Running Out Of Lies
by xxKitsune
Summary: When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and new feelings for Hinata. So which one will he chose... the lies or the truth? NaruHina. Inspired by chapter 469, R&R!
1. Emerald eyes and crystal blue

**A/N: Hey guys! This is Smencils! Welcome to Kitsune and my story called Running out of lies. We had been talking about making a collab in a long time, and now we finally made it! Hope you'll take your time to mread the story and remember to review, thanks!**

_Summary: When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and his new feelings for Hinata. So which will he chose... the lies or the truth?_

_All characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto_

_This chapter writer: xxKitsune_

**_Chapter one – Emerald eyes and crystal blue._**

"I hate people who lie to themselves!"

Sakura looked bewildered at the boy. Did he really figure it out that quickly that she was lying through her teeth? She put on her best smile hoping he wouldn't see through it.

"What are you talking about? I'm not lying!"

Naruto looked at her, as if she thought he was stupid. "What are you implying, Sakura-chan? That somehow, all of a sudden, you have these strong feelings for me...? After four years, you keep chasing after Sasuke, chanting about how you love him?!"

Sakura's reaction surprised Naruto and slightly irritated him. She actually had tears in her eyes, which dared to fall. He gritted his teeth and balled up his hands into fists.

The gray-haired looked at the blonde and pinkette, wondering what would happen now.

"Why don't you believe me, Naruto?"

The scarred boy scoffed. "I know when you're telling the truth or not, Sakura. I've known all along. The slits in your eyes gets smaller every time you lie" At that, she gasped looking down in shame.

Naruto turned around, turning his back on Sakura and his friends. He looked straight at his mentors. "Can I go back to the hotel room now?"

Kakashi nodded, slightly surprised and looked at the brown-haired jounin. He looked equally surprised, maybe even more.

Just as Naruto was about to leave, Sai spoke with a disapproving tone. "Didn't I tell you that you cause Naruto pain already, Sakura?"

The blonde looked down for a moment, then looked up and walked away. "I will see you guys later..."

Sakura looked after Naruto, with a hand over her heart. '_How did he know?'_ She turned around on her heels, looking at Sai, the Inuzuka and the green-clad chunin. They were looking at her disapproving, Lee shaking his head slightly and Kiba growling low.

Sai just shook his head and walked past the pink headed girl, not looking once at her. "You really disappoint me" As Sakura looked after Sai, she noticed that Kiba and Lee went with him, in the direction Naruto went.

"Sakura, say the truth. Why did you say that bullshit to Naruto?" Yamato demanded with a low murmur.

Sakura looked down, embarrassed. "Shikamaru told me… that we need to think of Sasuke like a criminal now, like the other shinobi nations does"

"Who made you 'realise' this?" Kakashi asked, suspicious about what made Sakura suddenly think that way.

"Sai… He sorta took all Narutos frustration out on me, which he never did himself. I'm just so confused right now, I don't know how to tell Naruto about Sasuke-kun…" After saying that, Sakura quietly broke down crying.

Kakashi calmly let his hand fall down on her shoulder, looking down at her with his right eye. She quietly sniffled and looked up at him, shocked at the way he was looking at her. Utter disappointment.

"I can not believe that you would make such a trick on him. If you really care for Naruto, tell him right away instead of playing mind games with him!" He let his hand fall to his side and sticked both of his hands into his pockets, turning around on his heels walking away. "Tell Naruto the truth, it's more effective than a lie, Sakura" Yamato just shook his head and walked with Kakashi.

The pinkette looked down in shame and let herself cry quietly.

Back at the hotel room, Naruto lay flat on his back, looking up at the ceiling with a blank stare. He listened to his two friends discussing about whatever they disagreed on. He smiled slightly.

Sai looked down at the blonde with a questioning look. Naruto took note of that. "Yes, Sai, what is your question?"

"What _did _happen in the fight with Pein? When Hinata apparently stepped in?" Sai noticed how Narutos eyes went wide with the question.

The blonde sat up and looked down, whispering quietly. "She confessed her feelings to me. Then charged at Pein, but in turn got knocked to the side. I then got pissed and went 8-tails on him"

At that, Kiba and Sai looked at Naruto with a surprised look.

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**A/N: I hope you thought it was great! Please, review :D**

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	2. Hinata's Story

**A/N: ****UWAAAAH!! KONNICHI WA, MINA-SAAAN! Kitsune-chan here! Edo, thank you very much for reviewing, faving and putting on alert! It felt great TT^TT We feel loved.. ANYWAYS, WE'LL KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK IF YOU GUYS KEEP REVIEWING! BAI-BAIII~!**

**-**

Summary: When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and new feelings for Hinata. So which one will he chose... the lies or the truth?

_All characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto_

_**This chapter was written by: Smencil**_

_**-**_

Chapter two – Hinata's story

-

Hinata lay in her bed. She had been healing injured ninjas all day, with the best she could manage. The Hidden Village in the Leafs was still in a bad shape after Peins massive explosion.

She had asked Ino why Sakura wasn't here to heal people, since she had been trained by the fifth hokage. Ino said she had went after Naruto, although she didn't know what Naruto was up to. Probably something with Sasuke.

The blond ninja had for sure already forgot about her love confession. Of course she didn't say that to Ino. No one but Hinata and Naruto knew about her sharing her feelings to her love. Unless Naruto had told Sakura about it.

Hinata hoped not, that would be embarrassing. Maybe Kakashi had got it out of him, or Yamato. Kiba had told her Yamato could be pretty scary if he wanted to.

"Hinata-imouto?" she heard a calling from the door. The person knocked.

"Come in," she said.

"Are you feeling allright?"

"Yes, thank you Neji-niisan," she answered and smiled kindly at her cousin.

They had been on good terms for a while, and she had come to think of him as an older brother.

He sad down on the big bed and took her hand. She smiled at him as he kissed her hand and let it go.

"Thank you," she said and smiled once again at him. He was allways so kind and sweet around her. He would protect her from anything... anything in the whole world.

"How many more needs to be healed?" he asked.

"I think about… two thousand more. But we got all the builders healed today so they can start building up Konoha again," she said.

"I've heard some of the citizens are very disappointed in the ninjas way to handle the city," he said and looked out of the window. It was becoming dark, and the moon shined brightly-

"Shino said to me, that some of them will try to pull down the hokage, and make Konoha a peaceful city without ninjas to protect them, or start dangerous wars..." he finished.

"That horrible!" the girl stated and looked Neji directly in the eyes.

"What will we do?" she asked.

"I don't know, it's also new information for me," he said and smiled at his cousin.

"But don't worry," he said, "I'll keep you safe!" he finished, and with that he walked out and left her to sleep.

**--RUNNING OUT OF LIES--**

"Well... what did you do, dude?" asked Kiba, with his mouth wide open. Lee stared with big black eyes and his fuzzy brows were turned up. Sai just looked at him.

"Okay, here we go," Naruto said and inhaled.

"I was about to get my ass beat up by Pein, when Hinata-chan stepped in and tried to fight against Pein." At that, they gasped.

"Hinata-chan? Did she really do that?" asked Kiba, sounding proud of his teammate.

"Yea," Naruto answered. "Then Pein said something stupid and Hinata started to go all protective on me... and then... she said... she loves me"

He swallowed, as the other two waited for him to continue, "Then she tried to attack Pein, but he almost killed her with one hit. I thought she died, and then I went 8-tails on him," he finished, and looked around at the shocked faces in the room.

Even Sai looked surprised.

Kakashi and Yamato walked in, with no Sakura behind them. She was propbably standing out there and crying a river. As always.

"Are you okay, Naruto?" asked Yamato and forced a little sad smile on his face.

"Yeah, but I can't believe she would tell me all that bullshit!" he said angrily and they all patted him on the back in understanding.

"Should we send her back?" asked Lee.

"No, we need a healer if something goes wrong..." said Kakashi, but looked a little sad, as he also wanted her to go home.

"Couldn't the city just send a new healer?" said Kiba.

"Sakura-chan is the best healer we could get, she has been under Tsunade!" said Naruto. He still cared for his teammate. She was probably just confused. A lot confused.

"Give her a break, and she'll be fine again, I think," he said and grinned at the others.

They looked shocked at him. They surely hadn't expected the scarred boy to take it that easily. But as always, Naruto was fast at forgiving.

"Shall we head on tomorrow? We are on a mission, remember?" Kiba grinned and smiled friendly at the ninjas, showing his fangs.

"Sure, we can't stay here forever," said Yamato and smiled, "Now let's give Naruto some rest," he finished.

They all agreed and left. It was dark and Naruto felt tired. He fell asleep fast with his last thoughts going to Hinata.

**--RUNNING OUT OF LIES--**

_Knock, knock_.

Hinata wakened from her sweet dreams, and sat up in the bed. It was past midnight and she had been asleep for at least two hours.

"C-come i-in" she said and stretched her arms. The door opened and a man in all black came in.

"W-who a-are yo-you?" she trembled, looking horrified at the unknown man.

-

**REVIEW, OR WE WON'T UPDATE!** _(xxKitsune is writing next chapter)_


	3. Pure hearted lie

**Running Out Of Lies**

**A/N: **Hey guys! Smencil here! We're just so exited about this collab, that we just can't stop writing new chapters! Hope you enjoy. Please review, we love reviews... who doesn't? Now, Kitsune just wan't to make a quick note, so listen up!

**Kitsune:** Hi y'all! My, my! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. You're the best!

ALSO. Thank you for sticking with us even when we were on a brief HIATUS with Running Out Of Lies. But, sadly because of the newest chapters, we couldn't really get inspiration to our lovely fanfic! We really love you guys for all the support you gave us with your favourites, story-alerts and reviews! You guys rock! Now, I will shut up now and write the chapters, ne? Enjoy!

**Summary:** _When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and new feelings for Hinata. So which one will he choose... the lies or the truth?_

_**All characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto**_

**This chapter was written by xxKitsune.**

**Chapter 3 – Pure hearted Lie**

The young man sat in the room, deep in thought. He looked out of the window, a distracted and hollow look in his eyes was visible.

Naruto sighed, as he ran a hand through his golden locks. "Why is it so hard to think right now.." He mumbled to himself, as he leaned back against the cool frame and looked uninterested at the sight. Just then, the blonde spotted a bright pink dot, recognizing it immediately as his teammate, Sakura. _'Well, I was going to talk to her anyway…'_

He quickly threw open the window and yelled; "SAKURA-CHAN!" Said person gasped and turned around, looking surprised at the blond. The blond just gestured with his hand for her to jump up to the window and let her in. He saw his teammate sigh, and then jumped up to the window, getting ushered inside by her blond teammate.

"Naruto, I-"

"Sakura-chan, why didn't you say the truth?", Naruto cut her off, looking at her with a mild curious look in his eyes.

The pinkette opened her mouth to say something, but closed it shortly after. She then opened her mouth again and answered the blonds question. "I… I wanted to deal with Sasuke-kun myself. I rely too much on you and Kakashi-sensei…"

Naruto blinked surprised, then laughed causing Sakura to look at him with hurt and confusion visible in her eyes.

"Sakura-chan, I don't care squat about if you say you rely on me. I protect you gladly, besides you're one of my best friends. I'd do anything to keep you safe!" He just beamed at her, a bright toothy smile on his face.

Sakura blinked and slowly smiled as she leaned over and threw her arms around Naruto. "You're too kind to be true, Naruto… Thank you so much!" Said person just grinned and wrapped his arms around his crush's waist.

"Naruto…"

"Yeah?"

"Forgive me…" As soon as these words were said, Sakura threw something at the floor, Naruto didn't quite see what exactly it was, on the ground and jumped out of the window, quickly letting Naruto go. A 'poof' was heard and a lot of smoke emerged into the room.

The blonde coughed and gagged, trying to get a glimpse of Sakura before he started to fall to the ground on his stomach. "W-What the H-Hell…A sleep-bomb..?" was the blonds last words, before he fell to the ground, unconscious.

**--RUNNING OUT OF LIES--**

Yamato blinked surprised, as he looked around sceptically. "Where did that noice come from?"

Kiba sniffed for a moment, then muttered; "Naruto..!", as he ran to the blond's room, Akamaru right behind him.

"Kiba, wait!" Lee and Sai called out, as they ran after him, Kakashi and Yamato right behind them.

**--RUNNING OUT OF LIES--**

"W-who a-are yo-you?" she trembled, looking horrified at the unknown man. The unknown man stepped forward, into the reflection of the moonlight, and revealed himself as her father, Hyuuga Hiashi.

He looked at her with slight confusion. "Did I frighten you, daughter?"

Hinata breathed relived and leaned back onto her bed. "N-No, you just gave m-me a small shock, father. Do y-you need something?" She sat up again, looking at Hiashi.

"No, no – not at all. I just wanted to tell you something", he said as he walked to Hinatas bedside and sat lightly on the edge, the matress shifting as he did so.

"Something to tell me?" She replied, looking at her father curious.

Hiashi looked at his daughter, with a slightly proud look and soften facial expression. "Yes, dear. I'm.. Very proud of you, Hinata. You've shown a lot of strength lately, helping the villagers and shinobis heal".

The young woman gasped, as she heard this. Her father was finally proud of him! She did a very out-of-character victory-dance in her head. She quietly smiled and looked up at her father. "I'm glad to hear that, father…"

"Also, be very proud of yourself. Confessing isn't the easiest thing to do on a battlefield!" The man declared, as he walked quietly out of the room.

"EH?!" Hinata whipped her head to see the door close and the hallways filled with a maniacal laughter. Her eye twitched slightly, as she heard him laugh. "Somehow.. T-This frightens me…"

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**A/N: Short, I know - FORGIVE ME. T_T Also, I love to see an OOC-Hiashi. He inspires me. XD**

*EDIT* I edited the Sakura-Naruto thing a tad, 'cause what I wrote didn't make much sense... So, bleh..

**REVIEW!**


	4. Forced lies

**Running Out of Lies.**

**A/N: Hi everyone! Kitsune here! Smencil was supposed to write the new chapter, but we decided to make a chapter, where you will understand this plot-line more, since I confused you with Sakura, so I'll make this chapter so you guys will understand Sakura's point of view and also, a surprise in the end of this chapter! Next chapter is going to be written by Smencil, a'ight? Enjoy and review, if you like it!**

**ALSO. We both know how the real 'story' behind this is, but we like to mix plots, lol. So, if you're confused about anything, just ask!**  
_  
We do not own the characters. Masashi Kishimoto does. That bastard, lol.  
_  
**Summary:** _When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and new feelings for Hinata. So which one will he choose... the lies or the truth?_

**This chapter was written by: xxKitsune.**

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Chapter 4 – Forced Lies.

_"Thirty minutes to whisper your name,  
Thirty minute to shoulder the blame.  
Thirty minutes of bliss, thirty lies.  
Thirty minutes to finally decide."_

t.A.T.u – 30 Minutes.

----

As soon as she threw the bomb, Sakura quickly let go of Naruto and jumped out of the window. She jumped up on the roof and sprang from house to house, running as fast as she could

**_'You _**.**_do realize that yo_****_u'll never see Naruto in the eyes again after this, right?' _**Her inner-self declared, her arms crossed over her chest and staring dumbly out in thin air.

She clenched her fist and sprang to the ground, and kept running.

_'I can't keep this up anymore…!' _The pink-haired girl screamed in her mind, as she ran. She looked around, scanning the area she was in and quickly left, leaping up in the air and sprang from tree to tree.

_'Sai was right… I do cause Naruto pain. And that's why I need to take care of Sasuke-kun myself!'_As she neared a clearing of a field covered up in snow with a clear-watered lake, she came to a stop. Sakura dropped down to her knees and slammed her fist into the snow, cursing herself. She felt tears prickling at the corners of her eyes and squeezed her eyes together, taking a shaky breath.

The pinkhaired girl slowly got on her feet and began walking. She couldn't stop, not when she was so close. _'Sasuke-kun…'_

**--RUNNING OUT OF LIES. Ha! You didn't expect us to cut right here, huh?! XD--**

Naruto's eyes fluttered open, as he stared blankly at the ceiling. Loud, annoying voices filled his head, wishing he didn't wake up. Also, the blond felt like there was eyes boring into his back, but he shrugged it off. Probably his imagination.

He frowned, as he thought about what the hell just happened.

One – He saw Sakura.

Two – She came up to the room.

Three – She wants herself to get rid of Sas-…

Naruto quickly sat up and scanned the room for something pink, but instead he found bloodshot red hair, a tattooed forehead and a big-ass jar of sand. Naruto stared surprised at the Kazekage, none other than Sabaku No Gaara. He was reading a book contently, though he looked like he wasn't interested in it. And he seemed like he knew Naruto was awake, but didn't pay much attention to it.

"Slept well, Naruto?" The deep, yet light voice of Gaaras rang in his head. Naruto just shook his head and continued to stare at Gaara.

"Wha… What are you doing here? Weren't you at the kage-summit?"

At that, Gaara closed the book and laid it down on the floor. He looked at Naruto, the content and relaxed feature all gone and was replaced with an all-business look.

"…Akatsuki-member, Zetsu – well, one part of him, attacked the meeting, looking for Uchiha Sasuke, your former teammate. Uchiha and his comrades also attacked, but escaped… Madara has declared war on us, Naruto." Gaara told him slowly, waiting for Naruto to exclaim, but it never came.

Instead, he just stared at the young kazekage, pain and confusion visible in the sea-blue eyes. "Why has he declared war..?"

"He wishes to capture you and Killerbee… Naruto, for the sake of the shinobi-world and as Kazekage, I'll guard you with my life. I won't let Madara take you. Nor let Sasuke get away, if he meddles with the ninja-coalition." Gaara murmured, looking at Naruto with a softer gaze, but the determined and stern look was still in the eyes. Naruto slowly nodded, looking down at his hands.

"So… You say that we need to think of Sasuke as a criminal like the other nations…?"

"Yes. He doesn't see you anymore. He's swallowed up in his own hatred and darkness"

"… I see…"

Naruto sighed and flopped down onto his back, arms hiding his face. He bit down on his lower lip and clenched his hands into fists. "Damn it…"

"HEY, THE BRAT'S AWAKE!" Who dared to interrupt Naruto's angsty time?! Naruto groaned and sat back up, looking at the door where Gaara's siblings, Temari and Kankuro, were standing, grinning at the blond.

"How're you doing, Naruto?" Temari asked, walking over to the younger blond and ruffled his hair lightly. Naruto huffed and ran a hair through his hair, putting it back to place. At that, Kankuro laughed and sat down next to his younger brother, who sighed and shook his head.

"Are you ready to go, lil' brother?"

"Sure…" The redhead stood and brushed dust from his clothes. He strapped the sand-gourd to his back and looked down at Naruto, who slowly stood up and looked at Gaara.

"You want to be Hokage, right, Naruto? Your first step for that might be that you have to do something about Sasuke. If you really were his friend, then you wouldn't allow him to do this." Gaara stated, looking at the blond man in front of him as he put his hand on one of his shoulders, squeezing it ever so lightly. He saw the blond slowly nod, silent as ever and a slight fire burned in his eyes.

"Good… Now, farewell for now, Naruto" The redhead nodded and vanished with a poof. His siblings smiled, bad him a goodbye and also vanished.

The blond sighed and buried himself in the futon, muttering annoyed. "Can I sleep in peace NOW?" He asked himself, as he drifted to sleep.

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***Snort* Review and get a free chibi-Sasuke? XDD  
I SPELT HOKAGE RIGHT THIS TIME! I had a typo! xD  
**


	5. United Destiny

**A/N: **Hey guys! This is Smencil, and i have no idea what's going on, so let's get to the next chapter! Oh yeah, me and 'Hima are both writing this chapter. Sorry if there has been a little confusion about the story, but it's hard to write a collab and Hima was hyper! Enjoy!

**KITSUNE'S NOTE:** If any of our readers have not read the manga and are reading our story, I advice you to have read it, otherwise you'll have a lot of spoilers and will think: "WTF!" every 5 second of this story. ALSO. I've edited chapter 4, so Smencil can work a little more at ease. Enjoy!

We do not own the characters, they're Masashi Kishimotos. That 'tard, lol.

**Summary: **_When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and new feelings for Hinata. So which one will he choose... the lies or the truth?_

**This chapter was written by: xxKitsune and Smencil**

* * *

Chapter 5 – United Destiny.

"_You don't gotta worry anymore_

_I got a feeling since you walked through the door_

_That we don't need nobody but the two of us_

_Just you and me against the world"_

_- Varsity Fanclub – Lost Then Found_

----

Once upon a time, there was a blond haired young boy named Uzumaki Naruto. He was currently in the land of Iron with his mentors and comrades. Sadly, his comrades were-

"ABSOLUTELY BORED OUT OF MY MIND!" the young Inuzuka bellowed, as he flopped down onto Naruto's futon, a deep frown on his face. Akamaru whined over his partner's actions.

Lee and Naruto snickered at his childish expression and continued their game of cards, while Sai just smiled and silently drew.

"I mean, come on! We only came so Pinky could tell you about Sasuke, which ended up weird and then BAIM. The sand siblings comes from the almighty kage-con!"

"Now, Kiba, don't hate on the kage-summit", Yamato said, as he pulled his shoes off, stepping inside the room. "Kakashi-senpai has offered us to return home to Konoha. He and Sai will finish the mission". He finished the sentence looking at Naruto with a look that said: "do as I tell you, or you'll be food to the lions".

Naruto shuddered slightly at the hard glance, but nodded nonetheless. He had faith in his teacher and newly found teammate to finish this. Naruto silently sighed, as he looked down on his cards. He wished, though, that he could come with them.

"So that means we'll leave for Konoha tomorrow morning? Oh, got any 4's, Naruto-kun?"

"Damn you, Bushy-Brows! Do you read minds?!" the blond fumed, as he handed over a card.

Yamato smiled slightly, as he confirmed what Lee said. "Yes, Lee. And I expect you to follow with us, Naruto. I'll know if it's some bunshin" At that, the blond just smiled and nodded though the former anbu-captain didn't quite believe in his sincerity.

Naruto looked down at the glass next to him. It had water in it and wasn't touched. He grabbed it and drank slowly from it. That was, until Kiba stated the following, that blew his mind away.

"So, Naruto… You plan on taking our little Hinata on a date when we get back?" Half of the water that was in said person's mouth flew out of his mouth, as the rest got stuck in this throat, making him choke. The Inuzuka barked out a laugh, as he saw the blonds reaction.

Lee reached over and smacked the blond on his back, laughing heartily with the brown haired boy. "We take that as a yes". He calmly stated, as Naruto glanced up at him with bright red cheeks and a half-hearted glare.

Sai looked at Naruto, puzzled. "You love Hinata?"

"I wouldn't exactly say 'love'. Merely have a crush on her. She is a sweet, caring girl…" Naruto murmured, as the words slowly sank into his head.

He made a mental list with Sakura and Hinata.

_'Sakura-chan. Caring, can be sweet, violent… Too violent… Sasuke-obsessed and lied about loving me…'_Naruto frowned slightly at the last fact and decided to move on to Hinata.

_'Hinata-chan. Caring, sweet, non-violent for all I know. Confessed in battle for me, being sincere…'_At that, Naruto groaned inwardly as he flopped down onto his back, getting confused looks by the others, though paying no mind to it.

_'Why is this so hard? I wasn't this confused about me liking Sakura-chan or Hinata-chan before!'_ The blond sighed softly and looked out of the glass-door in the room and up at the moon.

_'I'll come home soon… Then I'll figure this out… Hinata-chan.'_

**--RUNNING OUT OF LIES--**

The Hyuuga heiress softly sneezed, as she slightly blinked. She quietly sat in the opening of the window looking up at the moon, its light shining down on her. Her white nightgown lightly blew as the soft wind blew from the opened window. She sighed softly, as she looked up at the sky, thinking of a certain blond haired boy.

_'Come home soon, Naruto-kun… '_

**--RUNNING OUT OF LIES--**

"Sasuke-kun!" someone screamed, and Sasuke turned his head slowly to see what happened.

"Sakura..." he said and looked at her with piercing black eyes that showed her he did not want to be interrupted.

"Sasuke-kun! I'll do anything for you, please come back!" she cried, and ran forward, but didn't dare to come too close. She was doing business with an Uchiha, so she had to be careful.

Sasuke glared.

Sakura cried.

Sasuke continued to glare.

"I will never join Konoha again, and you know why, Sakura?" he asked

"No, I don't know! But, Sasuke-kun, if you could ju-..."

"I want to destroy Konoha!" he yelled at her and she saw the madness in his dark eyes.

"But..." she said. _'If I can't get him back to Konoha... I have to k-ki-kill h-him,'_ she thought and several more tears fell from her cheeks, "can I come with you then?"

"Would you betray Konoha for me?" he said. She nodded.

"Would you betray Konoha for Naruto?" he said, and she nodded once again and got herself together. She was supposed to be strong, and not weak in front of Sasuke. Her former teammate had no reason to attack Konoha, or at least she didn't believe so. So why would he want to hurt his former home?

Until now, she hadn't discovered that they weren't alone. A girl with spiky red her and glasses stood a little behind Sasuke and grinned at her.

"Are you sure she can be trusted, Sasuke-kun?" she asked and tried to grab Sasuke's arm, but he pushed her away.

"Who is she?" Sakura asked and pointed at the girl.

"You have no right to know," he said, "and I don't know if she can be trusted, she is one of my former teammates and I've never heard her say that she would betray Konoha for me before."

"I will do anything to be with you!" Sakura yelled and looked at Sasukes face, but avoided his eyes. The sharingan was turned on.

"Are you afraid, Sakura? Are you afraid that I will attack you instead of accepting your offer?" he asked and tried to catch Sakuras eyes.

"N-no..." she said and looked at the ground. She closed her eyes for a short time, and when she looked up Sasukes eyes looking her directly in the eye. He ran the short distance that were between, and was now forcing Sakura to look him in the eye.

Sakura's world started spinning.

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**A/N: REVIEW AND GET A FREE NARUTO PLUSHY! :3**


	6. Left in the Cold

**Running out of Lies**

Summary: When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and new feelings for Hinata. So which one will he choose... the lies or the truth?_  
__  
_**Authors Note: **-Lets out a big-ass yawn and sniffles- Hey, everyone… I'm in a writing mood and also, I got lots of inspiration by the new chapter. And I'm positive that I'm getting down with something… Stomach hurts like hell, so does my throat and I'm very sniffly… -sniffles again- Ugh… I'm gonna take a nap later…

Anyways, Smencil has decided that since her graduation is soon and she doesn't have much time, she's leaving the story up for me. So thank her everyone for her work! Though, trust me, I'll keep getting ideas out of her when I'm stuck. She's got an amazing creativity when I'm stuck, so even though she isn't writing anymore, she's still a part of this. She's my brain in a way. Now, where did I leave you guys..? Oh yes! Let us continue!

NO. WAIT. I LEFT OUT SOMETHING BIG! I want to thank some of our readers!

Especially:  
ObsessiveDevil23 _(For complimenting my work and kept reading, even though some of it wasn't that good. I really appreciate it!)  
_  
Rose Tiger _(For sticking with us ever since the beginning!)  
_  
Number1Weirdo _(Also for sticking with us AND for giving me a GOOD idea for future chapters!)_

The Unknown Twinkie _(For sticking with the story, even though some of it confused you. I shall make it less confusing!)  
_  
LostSoulRunner _(as much as I don't want to admit it his comments, yelling and whining made me continue… Thanks, Soul…)_

AND BASICALLY EVERYONE, WHO REVIEWED, FAVORITE'D AND ALERTED! You all rock and I love you all! PLUSHES, AS PROMISED! –throws plushies to everyone-

**DISCLAIMER: **I am in no way associated with the creator of Naruto, nor do I own the series! It's all Kishimoto's. That darn bastard…

The young Uchiha scoffed, as he looked at the unconscious girl lying on the ground, motionless. Such an idiot she was, for falling for this! (1)

He bent down, and looked at the pink haired girl, smirking slightly at the thought of what had just happened. _'I can't believe that she actually fell for this...'_

Sasuke stood up and turned around, signaling for Karin to get moving.

_'She's no use for me, might as well leave her here'_

They quickly disappeared in puff of smoke, leaving the Haruno-girl laying in the snow.

**--RUNNING OUT OF LIES--**

As the moonlight shone over the village of Iron, Naruto frowned as he looked deep in thought up at the white planet. He sat in the opening of the window, fully clothed with his jacket opened.

As much as he didn't want to think about it, he was worried about his teammate, and what might have happened to her.

_'Sakura-chan, you're making me worry…' _Gritting his teeth together, and balling his hands into fists, he slammed his fist into the wall, cursing under his breath.

The young man, still frowning and deep in thought, never noticed two figures behind him and hands squeezing his shoulder lightly, trying to gain his attention.

A noise from the figure finally snapped him out of his thoughts, as he whipped his head over the shoulder, noticing Kiba and Lee standing behind him, realizing that Kiba had cleared his throat bringing the blonde back to reality.

"Are you alright, Naruto-kun?" Lee asked, concern light in his voice. The tone in his voice made Naruto feel slightly bad, making his friends worry.

He smiled, and nodded. "Yeah… Just a bit worried about Sakura…"

Kiba frowned. "I don't know why you keep thinking about her, she's a complete phony…"

"Yeah… I know."

Lee looked at Naruto, still a bit worried for his comrade. "Naruto-kun, captain Yamato said that we're leaving as soon as dusk comes. If we leave around that time, we'll be in Konoha around night."

Naruto nodded and looked curiously at the open door behind the two chunins. "Did Sai and Kakashi-sensei leave?"

"Yes, they left just a moment ago…"

The blond nodded again, and looked out over the village again, his mind slowly drifting from having Sakura in his mind, and yet…

"Sakura's not the only one on your mind, is she?" Kiba stated, grinning from ear to ear. At that, the Uzumaki blushed blood-red and crossed his arms, frowning stubbornly, muttering a quiet 'shut up'.

The dark-haired chunin smiled, and looked at Naruto with an evil glint in the eyes. "Our little Naruto is growing up!" (2)

"Will you two shut up already?!" At last, the blond exploded from the embarrassment, obviously annoyed by the fact that his friends could read him like an open book.

"I didn't talk to her after dealing with Pein… See her, or anything… How should I talk to her after that?"

The Inuzuka looked at Naruto with a stern look. "I certainly hope for your well-being that you don't hurt her in any way. She's like a little sister for me, and seeing her hurt will cause you a lot more pain than you can imagine" Satisfied with the muffled yelp from Naruto, he smirked.

Lee glanced at the younger boy, and suggested the following. "You could ask her on a date, and you know, get to know her better than you already do?"

Narutos eyes grew as big as plates. "BUSHY-BROWS, YOU'RE A GENIUS! I could KISS you!"

Lee slightly paled. "Please don't…"

"Oh don't worry, I won't!" He quickly assured, earning heartily laughter making him smile.

**--RUNNING OUT OF LIES--**

Kakashi and Sai jumped from tree to tree, searching through the woods for anything pink. The jounin frowned annoyed by the foolishness of his student.

'_Just how stupid could she be, running off like that to an international villain?!' _The grey-haired growled, as he sped up.

"I found her!" Blinking stunned for a second, the jounin quickly jumped after Sai. Finally, he could scold the girl for her foolishness, if what he found didn't shock him.

Laying there in the snow was Sakura, unconscious and slightly blue from the cold. He bent down and took his coat off, gently wrapping it around his student, seeing hers was gone. He lightly scooped her up in his arms, and looked at the black-haired boy beside him, nodding curtly, and jumped up into the woods again.

**A/N: ** I apologize for the lateness of the chapter and the shortness! TwT

(1) – I can't really remember if Sasuke can use that strong genjutsu like Itachi could, so I just made him knock her out with the sharingan.

(2) – I couldn't resist. XD

PLEASE REVIEW!


	7. Least from Perfection

**Summary:**When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and new feelings for Hinata. So which one will he choose... the lies or the truth?

**Authors Note:** -Lets out a yawn and sniffles- Good morning everyone.. I wrote this in the middle of the night, and forgot to post, I don't know why… Anyway, I'm going to try on my dress for a Christian-party-thing to see if I still fit it, since I'm afraid that I lost too much weight. ^^''' Also, it's got a corset-back which is a pain, sooo…

My dad is embarrassing me to NO END with baby-pictures… I was cute, yes, but I also had either food or toothpaste in my face on the picture. T__T NO, YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO MAKE A COLLAGE OF MY PICTURES, YOU OLD GEEZER!

…

Anyway, thank you for the story-alerts, faves and reviews during the day, everyone, you all rock! Banzaaaiiii…

-Grins- Man, I love webcam'ing with my friend, she's so funny XD

Now, little message for lostsoulrunner: _SOUL, YOU INSENSITIVE JERK, IF YOU DON'T REVIEW LIKE YOU SAID YOU WOULD, I'LL TAKE A PLANE, TRACK YOU DOWN AND SMOTHER YOU! And you know I would!_

OH AND I APOLOGIZE DEEPLY, DRACOHALO117, FOR NOT MENTIONING YOU IN THE LAST NOTE. I completely forgot and you were even on my list! Thank you so much for sticking with the story, I love you so much! X3__

Ahem… yeah… Let's move on, shall we? XD  
**-----  
**_**  
**_"NARUTO, YOU STUPID FUCKTARD, GIVE ME BACK MY POCKY!"

"NEVER! !" (1)

"NARUTO-KUN! Just give the man his darn pocky!"

"Let me have you for myself! Lalalalala~BLABLABLA!" (2)

The dark-haired chunin looked with a deadpanned look at the brownhaired. "We're NEVER giving him sugar EVER again!"

The Inuzuka nodded, as he glumly looked at the blond in front of him, and kept walking. Yawning, he looked down at his furry partner, seeming to be entertained by the blonds behavior.

Except, the former ANBU... was the least positive at the moment…

"Naruto, if you don't calm down IMMEDIATLEY, I'll make you get back to Konoha on your own and leave you in the forrest, where there's mountain lions and bears!"

The blonde frowned and crossed his arms, walking further down the road. "Fine… Buzz-killer…"

Yamato sighed, finally some silence. It had been less than two hours since they took off from the village of Iron and on their way to Konoha. And the chunin had thought that it would be without any trouble… Oh, how wrong he was.

Naruto had of course taken Kibas pockys, and was now sugarhigh. The brownhaired chunin groaned inwardly and shook his head, annoyed. _'He REALLY needs to grow up!'_

Noticing that the young men had stopped walking, the chunin slowed down and looked forward, curious to what made them stop. And was stunned.

Kakashi and Sai were walking in their direction with a slightly blue-looking Sakura, who was visibly shivering.

Naruto was the first one to get over the shock. "Sensei, what happened?!" He rushed over to his teacher and teammates, not noticing the others running with him.

The jounin just looked at Naruto, obviously not satisfied with something, Naruto figured that it was for not scolding Sakura.

"Sai found her in the snow, unconscious. She keeps muttering and calling for Sasuke. I assume she ran into him and he knocked her out.."

The blonde just looked at his teacher with a stunned look, before loweing his eyes to the girl in the Hatake's arms and clenched his hands into fists. _'Damn it, Sakura…'_

"For now, I think it is best of her to wake up on her own. We'll ask her later what happened" Lee suggested, and looked at the jounin, who nodded and handed Sakura over to Naruto, who looked confused at Kakashi before taking her in his arms.

"You're the one who's the warmest of us all because of the Kyuubi's chakra." (3)

The blond nodded, and adjusted Sakura firmly in his arms, making sure she wasn't slipping out of his hold.

"Let us move on, then"

With a nod, they moved further down the woods, not noticing the pinkette slowly waking up and leaning into the warmth.

**--RUNNING OUT OF LIES--**

"Hinata-sama?"

"E-Enter"

A timid maid with long black hair and creamy eyes swallowed and opened the door to the heiress' room.

"Miss, Shizune requests all medics to be at the Hokage-mansion. Hokage-sama is stated to have awakened"

Hinata gasped, and whipped her head to the maid. The wind from the opened window lightly shuffled the white nightgown, wrapped around her and ever so slightly moved the long hair, cascading down her back. "I'll leave in a minute, Mizuki, you may leave"

Mizuki bowed and left the room, silent.

The young Hyuuga grabbed onto her lavender jacket and pulled it on, while walking out of the room quickly pulling her hair into a high, yet messy ponytail.

**--RUNNING OUT OF LIES--**

The pinkette opened her eyes, blinking slightly to adjust to the light. The only thing she noticed was feeling very warm, and comfortable. Whatever or wherever the heat was from, she didn't give a thought to as she leaned into the touch, wanting more of the warmth.

Sakura's stomach dropped, as she realized what had happened. How could she have fallen for that..?

She was snapped out of her thoughts, when she heard a small sigh of relief and a gentle voice state: "Sakura-chan, you're awake"

Her eyes widened ever so slightly. "Naruto…" She looked up at the source of the voice, and found herself in her teammate's arms. He looked worried, yet at the same time mad.

Sakura bit down on her lower lip. Just how did she find her, and what had happened to Sasuke?

"You have some explaining to do, young lady" Sakura realized that her teacher had spoken and looked over to the man, who glanced at her with a stern look.

"Naruto, please put me down…"

Naruto put her down on her feet, and kept his eyes on her.

"Just what happened out there? We found you in the snow, completely blue and knocked out!" Kakashi asked angrily, it was easy to see that he wasn't pleased with Sakura at the moment.

The pinkhaired girl flinched at the tone, and looked down to her feet. They were, indeed, a pale blue and same was her arms. Yet, she didn't answer Kakashi's question.

"Sakura-san, Kakashi-sensei asked you a question", Lee stated as he looked at the girl.

"I… I found Sasuke here in the village… And asked him if I could come with him-"

"I can't BELIEVE you!" Naruto's voice cried out in the quiet forest, making birds fly from their sanctuary, and into the sky.

**A/N: **Please review!

(1) –Grins- I had a spas-moment and made monkey-sounds to my friend, who I was webcam'ing and talking to over msn. So funny, she cracked up. XD

(2) Burhan G's danish song "Lad Mig Have Dig For Migselv". I translated first sentence, and made 'lalalablablabla' after, since I was too lazy to really translate XD

(3) Now, I don't know if this is true, but I just made this up since Kyuubi's chakra is red, so I sorta went with 'fire', so he became a Naruto-like Jacob Black from Twilight XD Well, Naruto's cuter.. Anyway. Also, Karin said his chakra was warm and bright, soo.. Yeah…

Yes, a bit short, I'll make next chapter longer, I promise!


	8. When it All Falls Apart

**Running out of Lies ******

Summary: When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and new feelings for Hinata. So which one will he chose... the lies or the truth?

**Authors Note:** Hi, everyone, Kitsune here with the biggest mother-effing headache ever. Yes, I pulled a very bad April fool on you, so, mwa-ha-ha-ha. XD I've scammed about… 33 people yesterday, and only 2 freaking dudes didn't fall for it. Which is great, so HAH! 8D Anyways, I fooled you with into thinking that I was going to make a chapter, so tonight, you'll be granted with a chapter and tomorrow with another one. 'Cause I feel very generous XD

Also, thank you very much for commenting on my note and I shall try to make them longer. God fucking Hell, my keyboard makes too much noise! -Smashes it-

Enjoy, and please review!

_"I'll kill you first_

_You wait and see_

_You devil undercover"  
__  
- Misery Loves Company – by Emilie Autumn.  
_-----------

Chapter eight – When it All falls Apart_  
_

_"I… I found Sasuke here in the village… And asked him if I could come with him-"_

_"I can't BELIEVE you!" Naruto's voice cried out in the quiet forest, making birds fly from their sanctuary, and into the sky._

Sakura jumped at the blond's outburst. The blond looked absolutely furious and shook slightly with anger. _'I shouldn't have said one word…'_

"What were you thinking?!"

"I-"

"Hah! That's right: YOU WEREN'T! WHY THE HELL WERE YOU EVEN CONSIDERING SUCH A THING?!" The blond fumed, as he glared down at his teammate, making his other comrades look at him surprised, overwhelmed by the thought of the gentle blond suddenly so furious at the girl, he proclaimed to love.

"Na-" the pinkette tried to defend herself but got cut off by the blond yet again.

"Sakura, do you have any idea how freaking worried I was?!" Naruto saw the shock and shame in her eyes, and continued, "Why the hell didn't you tell me anything? I could have gone with you and you wouldn't be a close victim to get frostbite, you getting kidnapped or worse, getting _killed _by Sasuke!"

The pinkette looked at her feet, ashamed. Her sight was hazed with the tears forming in her eyes. '_You're always so kind-hearted, Naruto, even when you're yelling at me. I don't even deserve it…_'.

The silver haired jounin cleared his throat, gaining both teens attention. "Sakura, what you did was completely irresponsible. We'll discuss this when we get back, since I do not want any of you to get in a fight on the way. This is enough"

Naruto looked at his teacher, and nodded ever so lightly. He glanced quickly at the pinkette, and started to wander further down the road once more.

Sakura looked after the blonde with a tortured look. A thin hand on her shoulder brought her out of her paralysed state, and looked over her shoulder to see a not too satisfied Sai. Her heart dropped, as she saw the message in his eyes. _'I told you that you cause him pain…'_

"Lets just go…" Yamato muttered as he, along with the other two chunins and the jounin, went after Naruto.

Sakura lingered for a moment behind them, before she started to walk after them.

"We're not stopping until evening arises, so you better prepare yourselves!" Kakashi yelled over his shoulder, as he jumped into the woods, the other shinobi and Akamaru closely following.

**--RUNNING OUT OF LIES--**

"K-K-Kakashi-sensei, can we stop now? It's nearly midnight, and it's freezing cold!" The Haruno-girl looked at her teacher, who had slowed down and nodded.

"Alright, we'll stop for now. If we're lucky, we'll be in Konoha by morning" The others stopped, and jumped onto the ground.

"Lee, Sakura, set up a fire while we put the tents up" Getting an affirmative from the two, they found some cut-off branches and sticks, returned to the others, piled it up and made a fire with the help of a lighter, the former ANBU-captain surprisingly had on him. For what reason, they didn't know.

Kiba groaned, as he looked at the blond who was struggling to keep the tent fastened to the ground. "Fool, just how hard is it to keep that crap strapped to the freaking ground?!"

"Well, if you HELPED, mister Obvious, you would find out much faster!" The Uzumaki snapped, as he finally got one side of the tent strapped, getting help on the other side by the Inuzuka, who groaned annoyed.

Yamato and Kakashi eyed the scene amused.

After they had settled things down, they decided to get some sleep before heading out.

As the others shamelessly slept, the blond sat silently in front of the fire, feeling the warmth radiate on his skin not sensing a figure closing up on him.

"Naruto..?"

The blond slightly jumped and looked over his shoulder.

**--RUNNING OUT OF LIES--**

"Waah, that tasted good! Shizune, I demand more food!"

Said woman just looked at her boss, who had just awakened from a serious comatose and was now stuffing her face with anything edible. "Tsu-Tsunade-sama, you ate everything in the whole estate…"

"Oh… Well, find me something else!" She snapped, as she looked hungrily at the poor piglet in her assistants arms, who grunted nervously under the gaze.

"N-NO WAY YOU'RE EATING TONTON!"

"But she looks so yummyyyyyyyy~~!" The 5th whined and puffed her cheeks out in a childish manner.

"Um… I could order something for you, Tsunade-sama…"

"Oh please, this damn take-out place in this city either deep-fries or makes it very fat! No way, make some of our shinobis get groceries!"

"In the middle of the night?! Be reasonable here!"

"Hush, and obey!"

Shizune groaned defeated, as she went out of the door leaving a satisfied yet homicidal hokage behind her, tightly clutching onto the piglet.

She looked around for the shinobi, who had been there just a moment ago

…

And found them all sprawled out on the floor and a couch in a waiting-room, all deep in their sleep.

Shizune smiled sheepishly and looked at a violet-haired young woman, who stirred and yawned.

"Hinata, could you run an errand for me?" The elder woman asked, as she approached the girl. Said girl jumped slightly in her seat, and looked at the woman, puzzled.

"S-Sure, what should I get you?"

Shizune groaned annoyed, and looked at the girl in an apologizing manner. "Tsunade-sama won't stop stuffing her face in, we ran out of edible things and she wants us to go grocery-shopping…"

"Um… I do believe that there is a 24-hours opened supermarket around here, I could go and get something there"

"Oh, please do!" Getting a quick nod, the woman pulled out a small stack of money and handed it to the young girl in front of her.

The Hyuuga nodded and excused herself, leaving the room scratching her neck, still yawning.

Shizune sighed relieved, as she re-entered the room where the Senju was sipping calmly on tea and getting a report from one of the shinobis.

The woman smiled, as she looked at the scene in front of her.

_'Thank Kami, she's alright…'_

**Authors Note: **-YAWNS FOR 5TH TIME NOW- yeah… I'm tired… I'mma change my clothes and go to bed. GOODNIGHT. 8D


	9. Shattered Pieces of a Heart

**Running out of Lies **

**Summary:** When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and new feelings for Hinata. So which one will he chose... the lies or the truth?

**Authors Note: **BANZAI! Running out of Lies turned 6 months April 3rd! -throws confetti around, and ignores annoyed and pissy readers- YOSH! Hi, my beautiful and lovely readers, I apologize deeply for not posting this chapter earlier but my net is a huge bitch after the whole moving-crap. And it's in the middle of the night over here.. ugh.. Also, I'll be posting slowly for the next two months, since I have a lot to take care of. But next time, I'll grant you with two chapters, I promise! Enjoy and please review!  
**  
WARNING: **Implied NaruSaku, if you squint! It's only to add more drama up later XD!  
**  
**_I do not own the characters, they're Masashi Kishimotos. If I did own them, Naruto and Hinata would have hooked up long ago and Sasuke and Sakura would be dead. Yes, I'm_ that _brutal. XD  
_  
_  
"Naruto..?" _

_The blond slightly jumped and looked over his shoulder._

"Sakura…" The blond whispered in a breath, as he looked at his teammate. He didn't know what to do, a part of his brain told him to ignore her while the other one told him to let her confront him, deal with the angst and then cry in a corner for Sasuke. '_Wow where did that_ _come from?_ '

It was hard for him to look at her after the so-called confession of hers, he felt… weird talking to her, awkward even just by looking at her.

He looked closely at his teammates face. Her cheeks were flushed because of the cold and she was still slightly blue and shivering. Her eyes were clouded over with guilt and confusion.

Naruto bit lightly at his lower lip in frustration. He was planning to ignore her as much as he could, but the way she had confronted him left him with no escape.

Sakura walked over to the blond, and sat in front of him rubbing her hands against her arms, leaning over the fire. Naruto could see that she was freezing, and deep in thought.

"Naruto… I'm sorry. I thought that if I went with him, I could change his mind... If he wasn't with that girl, I would have tried to take him down…" The girl tried to explain, as she looked down at her hands, that were rubbing together to get any heat.

"Sakura, just… Please, just stay silent right now…"

"Naru-"

"I'm at the verge of punching you right now, Sakura or something worse… Please just stay quiet for now!" The blond begged in a low voice with gritted teeth, as his arms shook with anger. He really couldn't deal with the talking after all. It was too much.

Sakura's eyes widened slowly, as his words sank in. Her gaze lowered from the young man in front of her to the fire that gratefully yet slightly heated her body.

The air hung with a heavy and awkward silence, as the two shinobi's stared into the fire, and shiftily at each other, without the other person noticing.

That was, until the Uzumaki finally broke the silence.

"What was going through your head..? Did you have some adrenalin-rush?" The blond asked sourly, as he glanced with a hard look at the girl, who squirmed slightly under the gaze.

"I… I thought that I could ease away your worries and the pain that Sasuke-kun caused you… And what I have caused you. I can see it in your eyes, Naruto, that this is killing you slowly from the inside…"

Said blond just stared at the ground and reached for a stick.

"What he did to you, or could have, is unforgivable… I'm giving up on him, Sakura, and I'm going to break my promise to you…"

And then tossed the stick into the fire making it grow slightly bigger, the fire reflected into the deep-sky blue eyes. His conversation with the kazekage still ran through his mind as did what his friends and mentors said.

And the horrible and unbearable sight of his dear teammate all blue and shivering…

His mind was set up. Uchiha Sasuke was no longer to be treated like a friend. His promise for the pink haired girl was broken.

And a huge weight on his shoulders was lifted.

"It's finally over…" he murmured softly to himself as he buried his face into his hands, massaging his forehead.

The pinkette looked over at the blond with slight curiosity and relief. Curious to the loss of '-chan' after her name, and relief with the fact that he wasn't angry, but content and maybe even relieved and at peace.

The girl shivered, as a light breeze blew between the two of them, rustling leafs and a thin layer of snow into the air.

Naruto, of course, saw this and beckoned her closer. He reached over for his coat, and wrapped it around Sakura, as she had relocated herself next to him.

He smiled fondly at the girl, who flushed slightly and had given a tiny smile back. He had to admit, she was a lot more gentle and sweet, as she was freezing to death.

The blond chuckled inwardly, as he felt the girl crawl onto his lap and cuddle up against him, desperate for the warmth. He wrapped his arms tight around Sakura, and pulled her close to him.

As they sat there in the middle of the night, no word was uttered. The silence spoke the unsaid and meaningful words for the blond.

_'I forgive you'_

As if it had been muttered, the girl opened her eyes and looked up to the blond, that was glancing up at the star-filled sky with a tiny smile. She allowed herself to smile back, as she leaned her head onto the blond's warm chest.

Tomorrow, everything would be the same again.

**--RUNNING OUT OF LIES--**

The indigo-haired chunin walked down the streets with a grocery-bag tight in her grip, heading for the Hokage-mansion.

Suddenly, she stopped dead in track and gripped at the fabric at her heart.

It felt as if it was being ripped out and stabbed on. The girl dropped her bag, and fell onto her knees, shuddering as she began coughing and choking on the blood oozing up to her mouth.

Just what was happening to her, she had no idea. The only thing she could register was the frantic call of her name, and the black abyss.**  
**

**  
Authors Note: **Ooooh, what did I do, what did I do XD YOU'LL ALL HAVE TO FIND OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER OOOOOO~F… *random drum-roll* RUNNING OUT OF LIES! Now, excuse me, I'm tired and going to bed. Yahoo~


	10. Sunshine Through the Eclipse

**Running out of Lies**

Summary: When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and new feelings for Hinata. So which one will he chose... the lies or the truth?****

Authors Note: Hello~! I'm hyper! NYEH, NYEH, NYEH, NYEH! *ROFL'S SO HARD IRL* A'ight, a'ight. So, we've finally settled down in our new house, and the internet will be back up on Wednesday, next week. Meanwhile, my brother and I are sharing a USB-internet-cord, which sucks ass, but we keep schedules, so I can finally post this, and work on two other chapters tomorrow. YAY! XD

BURN ENERGY-DRINK IS NOT GOOD FOR ME! I've drank 5 now, and I'm so fucking hyper!

OKAY, SO, UH. I left you with an annoying cliffy, yes I know you're pissed, and to answer you people's questions: She didn't get stabbed. Nor is she dead, and she is not dying. XD I just made it more dramatic with Naruto acting like that towards Sakura, making it hurt Hinata unconsciously by having a minor heart attack! Understood now x3? I

OKAY!

Let's move on!

_I do not own Naruto. Naruto is fucking owned by Kishimoto Masashi, that bloody bastard._

Chapter 10 – Sunshine through the eclipse

The low sound of a heart-monitor was the only sound in the white and peaceful hospital room.

The indigo-haired woman moaned annoyed, as she awoke to the annoying beeps. She slowly sat up in the bed, and took notice of the scenario, she was in. She then looked down at herself, and noticed that she was wearing a hospital gown. She slowly raised her eyebrow in question.

_'Hospital… But why?'_ Hinata yawned, and scanned the room for her clothes, but found none. She again moaned annoyed, and heard the door open. Her head snapped into the direction and smiled at the sight.

The Hokages assistant stepped into the room with her cousin behind her, a bag in his hands. The woman smiled warmly, and walked over to the girl, who sat in the bed.

"How're you feeling, Hinata?" She asked, as she put a hand on her forehead, checking for a fever.

Hinata smiled, and batted the womans hand away lightly. "I'm fine, Shizune-senpai. How did I even get here?"

"I felt a little bad about sending you off alone in the middle of the night, and had Ino and TenTen to go after you. When they reached you, they said you were on the ground, coughing and wheezing with blood running from your mouth." The woman explained, as she looked at the monitor, and scribbled onto a clipboard, she had in her arms.

Neji looked slightly surprised, but remained silent and went over to the girl's side. He handed her the bag, and smiled ever so slightly.

The girl smiled back, and took the bag, nodding a thanks. Her attention was at the woman again. "I don't actually remember anything except a stabbing-like pain in my chest"

"You had a heart-attack, dear. But it looks like you're doing just fine! I'll check on you later, and then you can leave the hospital, if you feel fine" Shizune explained, and looked at the girl. Said girl just nodded.

She smiled. "Okay then, I'll see you later then" She turned around, and headed for the door.

if it wasn't for a certain bun-haired young woman and long-haired blonde to crash through the door with a 'feminine' battlecry.

Hinata cringed, as she was glomped by the two girls, who babbled on animatedly and cried overdramatic, thick tears.

"OH, HINATA-CHAN, WE WERE SO WORRIED!"

"PLEASE DON'T SCARE US LIKE THAT, YOU, YOU!"

Neji looked at his cousin with sympathy, as she was strangled into the overly powered hug of Death.

"P-PEOPLE! P-Please let me go, I-I can't breathe!" Before she got to finish the sentence, she was quickly let go.

"I'M SORRY, ARE YOU OKAY?!" TenTen and Ino screeched at the same time.

"I'm fine, you brick-heads" Hinata said playfully, as she massaged her sore upper-arms. "You people sure go nuts when you hug.."

"We thought you were dead!" Ino wailed, as she cried long anime-rivers.

"I'm fine.." The girl assured the blonde, and smiled.

"Good, 'cause you'll need all the power you can!" TenTen declared, as she sat at the side of the girl's bed. "Naruto and the others are coming back today"

"Is that so?" Neji chimed in, as he looked at his cousins face, that flustered 10 times worse than normal. He smirked at the sight. _'Oh, just for the hell of it, let's tease her..'_

"Y-You people are so mean! Get out of here!" Hinata shrieked as she dived under the covers of the bed, trying to ignore the snickers and giggles, she got.

Yet, under the covers, the girl smiled as she thought of her blond savior. _'Naruto-kun…'_

**---RUNNING OUT OF LIES--**

"_ATTCHU~!" _Uzumaki Naruto, our favorite shinobi and jinchuriki, sneezed as he slowed his walking and came to a stop.

His comrades grinned at the young man, and looked at him with a funny look.

"Getting a cold now, are we, Naruto-kun?" As lee said this, it sounded more of a statement then a question. The boy just sniffled, and started his walking again, walking towards the destination of Konoha's gate that was ahead of them.

The Haruno-girl, who was still very pale and shivering less than before, was placed onto the blonds back, and was giggling at the sniffling boy and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Don't worry, Naruto, you'll get rid of that cold soon."

"And hopefully, you will get some color back on yourself" the boy muttered sourly, as he kept his walk. The girl mumbled an apology, and buried her face into the boys neck.

"I told you I was sorry.." she murmured softly, as the blond chuckled.

"I know, I'm just saying." He stated, as he kept his pace.

As they got closer to the gate, the Inuzuka and Green Beast of Konoha let out a battle-cry and ran for the gate with yells as;

"WARM BED, HERE I COME!"

"NO MORE SNOW!"

"BANZAI!"

Yamato and Kakashi chuckled at the two, and the nin-dog, who decided to be a little more 'mature' than his partner and his comrade and walked next to the former ANBU-captains.

"Atleast Akamaru has more common sense than his partner…" The Hatake said, as he patted the nin-dog on the head with a eye-smile.

Said dog just whined at his partners immature behavior, and leaned into the touch, barking.

---

**Authors Note: **I FINISHED THIS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, SO BE NICE, PLEASE. ._.

I apologize for the shortness; I had a little trouble writing this but I'll make it up to you guys with double-post tomorrow! Take care, everyone!

Please review!

LET'S PUNCH MASASHI, THEN WE'LL EAT HIS BRAIN FOR LUNCH!

*Coughing and wheezing*

Okay, I'm sorry for interrupting.. You may leave now. XD


	11. The Cold Breeze of Heartache

**Running out of Lies**

**Summary: **When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and new feelings for Hinata. So which one will he chose... the lies or the truth?****

Authors Note: HI, EVERYBODY. You know what? I LOVE YOU GUYS. Why? BECAUSE YOU STICKED WITH ME AND THE STORY AND I LOVE YOU FOR THAT. Yes, I know I usually answer all of your reviews personally, but I've been very busy lately and I won't update again until next Thursday or later this Sunday, since I'm going to the capital city with my school choir. I'm so excited xD! But, back to the review-thing. You all know what I'm going to say, so I'll sum it up in here: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING, REVIEWING AND STICKING WITH THE STORY! I love you all very much!

YES I KNOW I PROMISED A DOUBLE-POST, BUT HELL, I HAVEN'T HAD PROPER INTERNET FOR A WHOLE MONTH. T_T I'LL POST AGAIN TOMORROW, I SWEAR!

To my new reader, Hektols: Thank you for taking time to this story and reviewing every chapter! About the Sakura-Sasuke-thing: my former counter partner, Smencil, wrote that and I did correct her but we didn't do anything to re-do the chapter, because of lovely laziness. xD

Also, about Hinata's health. I'm going to do a little twist about that, but I won't spoil anything, just letting you know that I HAVE been thinking about this and not randomly adding a heart-attack for nothing without it having a- GYAH, I'M SPOILING! *Taps my cheek, annoyed*

Okay, let us move on! :3 *Drinking tea and eating strawberries*

REVIEWER #100 GETS TO CHOOSE A SCENE FOR WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! BUT ONLY ONE IDEA, PEOPLE!

_I do not own Naruto. Naruto is Kishimoto Masashi's. Not mine. *pouts*_

Chapter 11 – The Cold Breeze of Heartache.

As Uzumaki Naruto, shinobi of Konoha and jinchuriki of the ninetailed fox, walked through the streets of Konoha, he thought back to when they walked through the gates, where the guards had greeted them with a kind smile and nod, informing them of the Hokage.

Naruto had never felt so relieved in his life. He and the others had been very worried for the old lady, afraid that she wouldn't wake up. Naruto smiled softly, as he felt even, light breathing on his neck. He kept walking.

Sakura had fallen asleep quite quickly when they wandered closer to the entrance of Konoha. She was probably very tired from the trip. _'Though, I carried her on my back, so I should be tired…' _The boy grumbled inwardly, as he kept walking.

The others had departed with the blond, saying that they would report to the Hokage, while Naruto took Sakura to the hospital getting her checked on. The young man came to a halt and put his hand lightly on the pinkhaired girls forehead, instantly pulling away. _'She's burning up again!' _

The boy quickened his pace towards the hospital, his concern growing greatly. Hopefully, she wasn't getting worse.

A small moan reached the boys ear, as he felt the girl stir on his back, slowly awoken from her slumber. The girl laid her head onto the boys shoulder, looking at him with her big, emerald green eyes shining with curiosity.

"Naruto… Where are we heading? And where's the others?"

"I'm taking you to the hospital, so you can be checked on. You've got a fever and you're still very blue and pale." The boy answered her question, his concern visible on his face as he looked at the girl over his shoulder and continued his pace. "Also, the others went to Tsunade-baa-chan to report. She woke up yesterday, the guards at the gate told us."

He heard the girl sigh in relief and nuzzled her face into the boys neck. "That's good.." she murmured, and slowly drifted to sleep again after a small yawn. Naruto just smiled softly and walked through the small front-gate of the hospital.

**--RUNNING OUT OF LIES--**

Unknown of the person getting closer to her destination, Hyuuga Hinata sat quietly in her hospital bed with a book in her hand, dressed in a white summer gown that reached her knees and a thin blanket slung over her bare arms and shoulders, keeping her warm.

The girl sighed in annoyance, as she leaned back onto the pillow, lying motionless on the bed. _'Shizune-senpai won't let me out today, after all…' _She thought, thinking back of what had happened earlier this morning.

Hinata had felt the stabbing-feeling in her chest again, and had coughed and wheezed like the night before, throwing up blood up. The Hokages secretary had scowled and had her put back in bed and got her stable. She had said it was stress and maybe internal bleeding around the area, where she had gotten stabbed by Pein under the attack. **(1)**

Hinata just sighed again and continued to read her book. She took deep breaths as she felt her throat close and cut off the air, her heart beating faster than normal and felt the bile and blood rise. _'Not again..!'_

The Hyuuga barely heard the knock on the door and the terrified cry of her name, as she wrenched out the blood and bile, emptying her stomach and had a coughing-fit.

**--RUNNING OUT OF LIES--**

The Senjuu quietly sipped her tea, as she mulled over the report she had received from the Hakate. She put down her cup onto the table infront of her and looked at Kakashi with plain fury and a hidden fire in her eyes.

"All this happened… while I was unconscious.." She growled, and clenched her hands into fits, ready to hit the nearest thing.

"I'm afraid so, ma'am." The jounin stated, looking calmly at the woman before him.

"Where is Sakura and Naruto at the moment?"

"They're currently at the hospital, having someone check up on Sakura."

The Senjuu's eyes grew bigger, as he said this. "What happened to my apprentice?"

The Hatake sighed, clearly not the happiest person in the room. "Sakura blindly chased after Sasuke, while we were in the land of Iron. Luckily, he did not kill her and just decided to knock her out and left her in the snow. She's got mild frost-bites, but she's okay"

The Hokage groaned, as she put her head into her hands, massaging her forehead. "As soon as those two are out of there, I want them in this room instantly!"

The jounin nodded, bowed slightly and disappeared in smoke.

Having a nerve twitch on her forehead, Tsunade growled as she reached into one of her drawers in the desk, grabbing onto a sake-bottle, pouring herself a drink after screwing the cap off. _'I need a drink…'_

**--RUNNING OUT OF LIES--**

As the blond haired young man watched his teammate getting rushed into a room, he stood quietly and motionless in the middle of the reception. _'So, her condition WAS worse than I thought…' _The blond murmured sulkily, as he walked down the corridors, thinking to himself.

As the boy walked further down the hall, he heard a surprised cry, familiar voices and a horrifying sound of someone wrenching their insides out.

"Hinata-sama..?!" Naruto stopped instantly and his eyes grew wide, as heard the exclamation. _'Hinata..?!'_

The Uzumaki began walking again, faster this time and entered the room with the familiar voices to see TenTen and Ino standing outside of a small bathroom inside of the room, the stench of blood and bile strongly hung in the air and the sound of wrenching and coughing got louder. Naruto covered his nose and quickly got out of the room, leaning up against the wall, his eyes wide in horror.

_'What the hell had happened..?!'_

**--**

Authors Note: HAH'! Cliffy! XD I feel kind of evil, though.

(1) – Okay, uh. Having a heartattack because of stress is possible, 'cause my mom gets those sometimes, soo.. And internal bleedings and infections CAN make you react like that. Hence my aunt, who has something like that with her heart. D:

Oh well. PLEASE REVIEW XD!


	12. A Woman's Heart

**Running out of Lies**

**Summary: **When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and new feelings for Hinata. So which one will he chose... the lies or the truth?****

Authors Note: Hi, y'all. I know I promised you guys 2 chapters this week, but I have been a lot busy lately with school and personal things, but I'll DEFINETELY update again in the weekend, 'cause after I've posted this, I'm gonna work on my essay and if I get done quicker than intended, then you'll be granted with two chapters, 'cause I'm in a writing-mood.

So feel loved, 'cause I'm finally updating after whipping myself to do so all day!

LostSoulRunner: I'LL KILL YOU IF YOU EVER POST THAT SHIT AGAIN IN A REVIEW, I SWEAR XD! OH AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY! X3

Now, please do enjoy and review! I love you guys so much! x3

_I DON'T OWN NARUTO. THERE. .  
_  
Chapter 12 – A Woman's Heart

As the blood-coiling noises of wrenching and coughing got worse by the second that went by, Naruto watched as he saw a pair of medics head into the room behind him quickly yelling orders to the nurse, Naruto assumed it was a doctor who yelled, and had shunned the two girls out of the room, leaving the two Hyuuga's inside the room, probably after a lot of protest from Neji and had slammed the door closed.

It felt as if time stopped. He felt suffocated, his hands were clammy and his brow had a thin layer of sweat covering his forehead, his skin just as pale before he had left her in the care of medics. Naruto sucked in a deep breath as he looked over to the two kunoichis standing beside him, looking at the blond with curiosity.

The young man swallowed a lump in his throat, before giving the girls a question that he felt sick about just asking. "How long… has that been going on?", came out from the blond in a shaky, throaty voice.

TenTen and Ino looked at each other with a pained and tortured look and then looked at the blond.

"Two days now…Well, actually one, since she first reached way early this morning. That's her third fit.." The brunette answered in a low tone, as she looked at the man, whose eyes widened further.

The blond felt the bile force his way up to his throat, but he swallowed it quickly and leant up against the wall, sighing quietly. _'Hinata-chan…'_

The three shinobis gave a loud sigh of relief, as they heard the Hyuuga girl quiet down and heard nothing but the doctor talking in a inaudible tone with the girls cousin.

"Thank God, that's over with", the blond breathed as he slumped down to the floor, his back still against the wall.

"That's quite a mild one compared to the other two earlier today-" As the blonde girl had said this, she noticed how the young man's head quickly snapped towards her in a frightened stare, muttering a low 'what'.

"You should have seen her earlier, they had to give her a sedative and give her an oxygen mask to help her breathe. It was horrible", the Yamanaka continued and watched the blonds reaction go from shock to disturbed. She raised an eyebrow at his last expression, wondering exactly what had disturbed the boy.

"Well, did they say why she's reacting like this?" The blond desperately asked, as he shiftily between from the two, both of them shaking their heads making Naruto feel disappointed and ashamed for his desperation. As he was about to ask another question, he heard the door behind him open quietly and snapped his head to see the Hyuuga prodigy step out of the room with an unreadable look on his face.

"Neji…" The brunette murmured, silently begging to know how the girl was doing. Said man just took in a deep breath, probably to get rid of the stench of an irony smell and bile, the blond had thought.

"They stabilized her and gave her an oxygen mask to let her breathe correctly. Her lungs are slightly bruised from the coughing, but they'll have Hokage-sama or Shizune-senpai check on her in a minute. For now, thet say she's fine" As Neji was done talking, he looked over to his side and glanced down at the young man, who just looked up at him.

"Naruto, by that look of yours I can see that you want to see her but I'd like of you to visit her later, after either of them have looked her over. I'd appreciate if she didn't get any more fits today, or we all will too".

"Bu-"

"Naruto." The Hyuuga looked at said blond with a hard yet softly begging look. "It'd only make her condition worse."

The blond just looked down at his hands and nodded solemnly, earning a grunt of thanks from the longhaired man.

**--RUNNING OUT OF LIES--**

Sakura stared tired at the Hokage's assistent, who tended to her body, heating her gratefully up. She noticed how her skin had a little more colour on it and she wasn't as cold as before.

"There you go. Now keep yourself warm and those frost-bites will fade away", Shizuned smiled kindly to the girl, who weakly smiled back and leaned back to the bed, she was currently lying on.

She sucked in a breath, as she watched her Senpai gather a few needles used for blood tests and threw them into the bin, the kind smile still playing on her lips.

_'If they knew just what happened in the land of Iron, she wouldn't be smiling like that'. _The girl gloomily murmured, as she scanned the room for any covers to heat her body with.

Just as she looked around in the room, her eyes fell onto a familiar orange jacket with scratches on. She reached out for it and slipped it on, the jacket still warm from the body-height that once had warmed the fabric.

Suddenly, a door was slammed open and a red hand-mark was on her left cheek, stinging her face as her eyes went wide.

**Authors Note: **Nyahahahah! I loved writing this XD

A little short, but I'll try to make it up to you for the next chapter!  
Stay tuned and please review!


	13. When You Let Your Heart Win

**Running out of Lies**

Summary: When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and his new feelings for Hinata. So which will he chose... the lies or the truth?

****

Authors Note: Hi, y'all. How you doing? My Office-pack broke down right after I updated last time, so it took me some time to get it up again. So if it's a little short, please forgive me. If looks could kill right now… Besides that, shit's been happening in my family, and my life turned upside down. So if this is too sentimental, please forgive me 'cause I'm crying my eyes out right now, and I can't get myself to write this another time.

FOR THOSE, WHO'VE READ 497 OF NARUTO: WHAT THE BLOODY FUCK WAS THAT?

_I don't own Naruto. _

Chapter 13 – When You Let Your Heart Win

Sakura stared with wide eyes as her hand slowly went up to her cheek that was stinging from the struck and was bright red.

The hokage stood there in front of her, fuming, with her hand raised in the air. She was breathing quickly yet heavily, eyes shining with fury.

Sakura opened her mouth a couple of times, to defend herself yet she couldn't find her voice and decided to look down, averting her teachers glare.

Tsunade heard her assistant call out for her, yet ignored it and focused on the girl in front of her.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?", she screamed at the girl, who flinched and sunk deeper down into the bed in shame. "Was this what I trained you to? To betray the village, and pursue after an arrogant piece of shit, who doesn't know where he stands in this world?"

"Senpai-"

"I trusted you… I made you swear to me, the day I took you as my apprentice that you would be loyal to me. To your friends, family – damn it, to your village! And you dare be this disrespectful to the people of Konoha. And especially towards Naruto!"

At that, the girls head snapped up to the blonde haired woman. Her eyes softened at the pained look in Sakura's eyes. "I heard everything from Kakashi… And I'm so disappointed in you. Beyond what you can imagine!"

"TSUNADE-SAMA, I-!"

"Enough!" the Hokage snapped, as she glared at the girl, pushing back the small tears forming in her eyes. "I thought you weren't so stupid to repeat your mistakes again…"

Sakura took a shaking breath and looked down at her feet, biting on her lip to refrain herself from crying.

"You're dismissed, Haruno."

The girls eyes widened further and she forced herself to look up at the Hokage. "Tsunade-senpai!"

Shizune went over to the woman and begged; "Please, Tsunade-sama, calm down and be reasonable! You've just woken up from a serious comato-?"

"Shizune!"

The woman stopped, and looked surprised at the elder who was shaking, getting immediately worried.

Tsunade looked down at the pinkette. "I'll no longer have you as my apprentice", she spat as she glanced at the bedridden girl. She turned around and walked out of the room, out of sight of the injured girl and the Hokages assistant. Shizune quickly recovered from the shock and went out of the room, yelling for the woman.

Sakura stared blinded with tears, which was threatening to spill over, at her shaking hands. She grabbed onto her arms, and hunched together, sobbing violently.

**-RUNNING OUT OF LIES-**

The setting sun's orange colour shined through the window, and hit the indigo-haired womans face yet she didn't stir, as two older men opened the door to the door to her room. Naruto stepped in, and heard the door close behind him, glanced down at the peacefully, sleeping Hyuuga-girl, taking a seat onto the chair pulled next to her bed.

He had gotten permission to go inside the room, if he didn't wake her up after much protest from the worried cousin of hers, and convincing from their comrades.

The shinobi smiled softly and slowly reached over to the girl's cheek, gently and lightly stroking it.

"It doesn't suit you in this bed, you know…" he murmured quietly to himself, as he looked at the Hyuuga. She had gotten paler and a little thinner since the last time he had seen her.

Hinata's words went flying through his mind, as he was reminded of their last encounter. _'Because I—love you.'._

How could this sweet and kind-hearted girl not dislike him like everyone else? How could she love him? And why was Naruto smiling when he was thinking of the girl's words?

Naruto's smile slowly faded away, as he thought of Sakura. The boy had been in love with her since their academy-time, yet she didn't recognize him at all, and had thought of him as a nuisance. He slowly stood up, and pulled back his hand. He looked down at the sleeping girl, and thought;

_'I really want to know what these feelings I have for you is… And I'd like of you, Hinata-chan, to get better, so I can talk to you. Please, get better soon';_

as he slowly bent down, reached over to remove her bangs and kissed her softly onto her forehead. "Please get well soon, Hinata-chan… 'Till next time." He murmured in a low voice, as he withdrew from the girl. For a second, Naruto thought that he saw a tiny twitch of her lips quirking upwards and had felt her hand move, but he let that slide, thinking that his mind was playing games with him.

Naruto turned around and headed for the door, reaching out for the handle… if it wasn't for the soft murmer that he heard behind him.

"Naruto-kun…"

Naruto's eyes widened, as he whirled around and looked over at the long-haired girl, who stared at him with half-opened eyes.

**Authors Note: **It was short, yes, I know. I'll try to write something again tomorrow. I'd be very glad if you would review. (: Goodnight, people. I love you all. X3


	14. That Gentle Smile from a Faraway Dream

**Running out of Lies**

Summary: When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and his new feelings for Hinata. So which will he chose... the lies or the truth?

**Authors Note: **due to lots of inspiration (Lie, I whipped myself to do this XD) I'm updating. But this'll be the last update in June, since after today, I am focusing on finishing my school-project and last things in school. I have a lot to catch up on, before going on vacation and I have to put away lots of my things.

So enjoy! I'll put lots of angst, fluff and awesomeness – so I hope – in this chapter. Please review!

_I don't own Naruto. As always. XD_

Chapter 14 – That Gentle Smile from a Faraway Dream  
_  
"Naruto-kun…"  
_

_Naruto's eyes widened, as he whirled around and looked over at the long-haired girl, who stared at him with half-opened eyes._

The two continued to stare at each other, not noticing anything else besides the person in front of one another. Naruto seeing the bedridden girl, who had a playful glint in her eye, yet the same smile as always and Hinata, seeing her love standing there stiffly with a embarrassed and surprised – was that relief? – look in his eyes, and his mouth wide open, trying to find the words, that died down his throat.

Hinatas smile widened, as she slowly steadied herself onto her elbows and pushed herself to sit up straight. Naruto rushed over to her, and helped her sit up. "Hinata…", he muttered softly as he looked down at the girl, who looked up at him questioning silently, cheeks glowing in a soft red colour from the sudden attention she had received.

"I… didn't know you were awake…", Naruto quietly said, as he looked away from the Hyuuga, who glanced up at the young man with a puzzled look.

"I-If you _did_ know I was awake, w-wouldn't you have said that..?" the girl questioned, feeling a growth of a minor sadness, if his question was confirmed as a no.

"Of course, I would!", the boy spluttered as he kept avoiding the girls eyes and crossed his arms, turning a light shade of red and pouted. "I'm just not that sure that I would have kissed you if you were awake…" the boy mumbled, hoping she didn't hear.

But the girl did in fact hear it, and she flushed deeper and looked down to her hands, fidgeting slightly with a tiny smile on her face, yet she felt a little disappointed. "O-Oh, I-I see…"

Both looked at each other with a mixture of confusion and hesitation visible in their eyes, and a heavy awkward air around the two of them.

Naruto felt a sudden need to hug her, but refrained himself. She looked so small, and vulnerable in that bed. "What happened to you..?", he murmured the question so soft, you'd have to strain your ears to hear it.

"S-Shizune-senpai said I h-had a heart-attack.. S-She c-couldn't tell why, at that time. Just before the doctors left, t-they told me that the wound in my torso from that blow I took against Pein wasn't healed properly and it got infected." [1]

"Oh my…". Narutos eyes went wide, as he stared at the girl in front of him, who nodded quietly and turned her gaze down to her hands again.

"Apparently, the i-infection spread to my heart, making it react. But t-they also said that it might be a sort of c-counter-attack from what happened in our first chunin exam…", the girl shrugged lightly and looked back up to the blond. "They're waiting for Hokage-sama to run me through some tests, before they can really tell what's going on with me."

"I'm sorry…" the boy muttered, as he looked down.

"For what?", the bedridden girl asked, looking at the boy with a wondering glance. "It certainly wasn't your fault that this happened." Noticing the blonds eyes soften, she smiled gently and boldly reached out for his chin, lifting it up to meet his look. "I chose myself to do what I did, Naruto-kun. And I'd do it again, if I had to…", she softly uttered, as she stared into those sky-blue eyes, who looked at her in shock.

"Hinata-chan, I-"

"I don't expect you to answer me with that I said", she stated, sensing what he was about to say and noticed him relaxing a little more. She smiled, yet felt a little sadness, but let it pass. "I never wanted you to answer. Well, n-not immediately, but I know you l-love S-Sakura-san, so I won't stand in the way f-for you". She lightly let go of his chin, and settled back into the bed in a sitting-position.

Naruto stared at the Hyuuga with a confused glint in his eyes. _'How can you be so patient? How can you love me?' _The boy didn't realize that he had not only thought it, but also muttered it out loud, loud enough for the girl to hear it. His eyes widened at her answer.

"Because love does that to you. You could wait an eternity just to watch that special person of yours develop and stand by their side, either choosing to help the person through it's life or choose to stay in a distance." [2] She whispered, not once stuttering.

The blond looked at the girl, who glanced away from him and through the window, a soft tinted blush lingered on her cheeks with the same gentle smile of hers. He felt an odd, tingling feeling inside of his stomach, but let it pass, thinking it was just the nerves from all the travelling messing with him.

And finally the longhaired Hyuuga turned her eyes to the boy, and closed them, smiling wider and blushing a tad harder than before. "And I love Naruto-kun because of his kind and stubborn nature. He makes me smile, when he's not giving in and gives me hope and inspiration when he accomplishes what he's seeking to do."

Naruto blushed, though barely noticeable, and continued to stare at Hinata. He then murmured something so soft, that the girl blushed bright red and her eyes widened in shock.

"Hinata-chan… Will you go out with me?" Hearing a small, almost unnoticeable 'eh', he quickly added with that big grin of his, that she adored. "I'd like to get to know you better!"

Hyuuga Hinata, shell-shocked and happier than ever just nodded, not trusting her voice. She smiled and gave a small giggle at the happy smile, she received.

"I'd like that, Naruto-kun…"

**-INSERT-RULERLINE-HERE-GRR-**

Authors Note: I hate the fact that my ruler-lines doesn't work… -_-''

1 – This is actually how my aunt got her heart-condition. She hadn't taken her medicine properly, which kills the infection and it had spread to her heart.

2 – I loved this "speech". I was practically squealing when I wrote that, and just pictured Hinata saying something like that in the manga. Also, I had said myself something similar to a person, I care about.

So what do you think? Is it good? Too rushed? Lemme know in a review! Thank you for reading!


	15. Out With the Old

**Running out of Lies**

Summary: When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and his new feelings for Hinata. So which will he chose... the lies or the truth?

**Authors Note: ***growls* WHY A PICNIC, YOU GUYS? Then I'd have to think about small-talk ;_;!

Oh well. Hi y'all! Again, thank you for the lovely feedback. It took me some time to get my material and such. So, lack of motivation didn't work that much either, so this is another chapter I roped myself to do. AND OMG, IT'S A 2-PART CHAPTER! XD Really, when there's a storm outside and I'm home alone, I never get sleep until next morning. *shudder*

Right, so remembering your classmates and yourself screeching to this song called "Lonely" by Medina…helps a lot. Not. XD _ARE YOU LONELY~? I HOPE THAT YOU'RE LONELY~. Blablablabla, WITHOUT ME~_

Right.. So.. Moving on! Enjoy, and please review!

_I do not own Naruto, and in no way associated with the creators. This is a non-profit fanfiction._

**Chapter 15, part 1 – Out with the Old**

If there was one word to describe the room's atmosphere at that point; it'd be awkwardness and embarrassment.

Naruto couldn't believe that he had said that so easily, yet didn't think anything about the situation. Because not only was the poor girl admitted to the hospital, but her cousin and their friends were outside the door, probably listening to their conversation. That said, the blond had to push back a blush, thinking if that was true then it'd be embarrassing.

As for Hinata, she had a very hard time not passing out right when he asked her out. It felt so… _'-unreal'_, she thought to herself. She had never thought in her life that the boy would ever ask her out, yet even peck her on the forehead or just… talk to her, after all that had happened. It made her so happy, that she could burst.

"So, wh-what should we do?" the girl quietly pondered, as she looked up at the boy who looked back at her. He smiled.

"What do you wanna do?"

"U-Uhm… I-I could prepare something for us to eat and w-we could have a picnic…"

"Oh, sounds nice!" the blond said excitedly, as he looked down at the girl with a bright smile, getting a small smile back.

"P-Picnic it is, then"

But good things had to end, as a knocking brought the two teens out of their daze and look away from each other blushing lightly, Naruto scrambling to sit on the chair that was next to the bed.

"C-Come in," the Hyuuga-girl stuttered, as the intruder let itself in, surprising greatly the blond shinobi.

"Baa-chan..?" the boy gaped at her. Hadn't she just awoken from a serious comatose?

Said woman twitched slightly at the nickname, but ignored it and walked over to the bed. "Good thing you came back safely, brat", she stated as she lightly ruffled his hair before looking at the girl. She grinned sheepishly. "And here you are, Hinata. Where did my food ever go?"

Said girl just giggled and folded her hands together. "I-I'll make something and have Shizune-senpai give it to you, Tsunade-sama. But please, do e-eat slowly next time", she said as she pointed to the Hokage's torso. The woman looked down to see her belly a little swollen, which made her laugh loudly and the boy grin from ear to ear.

"Oh boy… So, I was told about what happened to you, so lets see what's wrong, yeah?" the Hokage responded, looking at the blond as to tell him to get out of the room.

Naruto noticed the look and stood up. He looked down at the girl at the bed, smiling. "I'll see you tomorrow, 'kay?" Getting a nod from the Hyuuga, he headed for the door and went out of the room.

_A few days later…_

The Rookie 12 was gathered in the Hyuuga-girl's hospital-room who had just been released from the hospital, staring at the blond haired Ninja, new-claimed Hero of Konoha.

A fist was slammed into the wall. "You're going to fight Sasuke alone? And you think the rest of us are standing back to watch? Please, get a grip!"

"TenTen's right, Naruto. We can't let you decide this alone when he assaulted a Konoha shinobi, no less his former teammate! This is the whole village's problem", Shikamaru stated as he looked calmly at the blond haired male, who averted his eyes and was staring at the ground as if it was the most interesting thing ever seen.

"I already said it. I will take him on myself. I will not allow any of you guys to get involved with this psycho vendetta of his. I will take care of him", the blond proclaimed as he looked sternly at the two who had spoken.

"So THIS is what you said you'd tell us when we got back? Do you think you're the only one who's strong here?" the Inuzuka yelled, as he glared at the blond.

"No, I just don't want you all to get hurt and DIE because of his impulsive acting!" Naruto yelled back, as he stared hard into the brownhaired boy's eyes. "Sasuke is stronger than he was before… Much more stronger. He's been with Madara since Itachi's death!"

"Naruto… Do you say all this to let you handle him and save him..?" Shikamaru warily asked, as he looked at the blond who shook his head and looked straight back at the Nara.

Hinata, who had been staring at Naruto the whole time now in shock, finally noticed the pinkette look down and saw a flicker of shame in her eyes. Her look turned a little stern.

"I'm done with him. I won't defend him anymore" the Uzumaki boldly stated. "When I saw Sakura in that state, that made it clear for me that he wasn't going to chance and even if I tried, it would be futile"

"But Sakura, you said that he wasn't in the best shape when you found him. So why didn't you take him on, Sakura?" Neji, curious to why the girl had been to quiet and hadn't done anything, asked looking directly at the pinkette who looked straight back at him.

"He was with some other person, I couldn't have!" she quickly defended herself, as she saw the Hyuuga fold his arms and stare right back at her.

"Obviously, you weren't thinking that there was a possibility that he might have been with someone, since you were thinking about taking him on alone…", Kiba mumbled as he gazed angrily at Sakura.

"Naruto-kun", the Hyuuga-girl spoke up. She felt immediately his eyes on her and she stared into them. "Do you think of us as weak since you will not let us help you take care of him? As Shikamaru-san said, this is the village's problem, not yours only."

"Hinata-chan, do you remember what happened to you in the fight between Pein and yourself? Do you really think I could bear thinking about all of my friends being pierced through with that bastard's hand and that blasted jutsu of his?" The boy quickly answered her question, staring right back at her. "I do not think of you as weak. Far from. I just want some comfort in myself that you guys are alright if anything happens."

Hinata felt her gaze soften, and she relaxed into the bed she was sitting on, lightly bumping shoulders with the Inuzuka who sat beside her in progress.

"That's why I will not let any of you face him. This is a match between him and I." _'And hopefully, the last one'_ he quietly added in his mind, as his comrades slowly relaxed and began leaving the room.

Naruto looked at the Hyuuga-girl who was the only one left in the room beside himself. He smiled brightly. "So what about that lunch?"

The girl giggled and smiled. "Lets go then".

And the two of them left the room unknowingly holding hands, obviously not affected by all the strong talking they had all been doing.

**-RUNNING-OUT-OF-LIES-**

Authors Note: Alright, so listening to Arashi really gave me motivation. And so, that was the first part. Personally, I like this chapter; a lot better than most of my other ones. I'll as fast as I can update, but I can't promise anything too quickly. I'm sorry, personal shit is blocking me mentally, so I have a little difficulty to think straight lately.

I hoped you enjoyed it! Please review and tell me what you think!


	16. In with The New

**Running out of Lies  
****  
Summary: **When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and his new feelings for Hinata. So which will he chose... the lies or the truth?

**Authors Note: ** First off; I apologize deeply for sounding like an emo-kid in my previous note. I was feeling really down, but I'm up and about now! I realised that I'm not losing anything, just that my dad lives another place. But yeah. I'm a little pissy at him but it'll be fine. I'm okay now. I appreciate the concern and your patience with me. I love you all and here is your chapter with a twi~st! *evil smirk* … OH, DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT!

So, this chapter is dedicated to my dear Smencil! (Yes, the former co-writer of this story XD) It's her birthday today (well, was since it's soon 3 am over here), so I thought I'd do something for her, and couldn't think of anything else than writing a little into this chapter for her, since my Photoshop crashed the other day so I couldn't make her a picture. *pout* oh well. I HOPE YOU LIKE IT, NANS!

Enjoy and please review, everyone!

_I do not own Naruto, and I am in no way associated with the creators. This is a non-profit fanfiction._

**Chapter 15, part 2 – In with the New**

Laughing freely as they felt, Naruto and Hinata stepped into the small ramen-shop drenched to the bone by the sudden harsh rain, which streamed down as soon as they were in the streets. Now void of any further ideas of having a picnic, they had settled for the second choice: Naruto's beloved ramen shop, Ichiraku Ramen.

"Hey, old man!" Naruto greeted with a big smile, while Hinata tried to keep herself on the small carpet, not dripping onto the floor like the boy next to her did.

"Hey, kiddo!" The owner stepped out with a smile but halted slightly at the sight, before smiling again, wider than before, stepping into the backroom to get towels. "You look like drowned rats! And it's especially not good for you, Hyuuga-san, after just getting out of the hospital!"

"H-Hinata is fine, Teuschi-san", the girl insisted, before giving a small 'thank you' and a smile as she took the offered towel drying her arms and legs off, inwardly complaining at the fact that she had put on a summer-dress and not her usual outfit, being that it clung tight to her body. Blushing madly by this, she gripped the towel tight to her chest.

Naruto, blushing slightly at Hinata's reaction, took off his slightly wet jacket and wrapped it around the girl, grinning embarrassed. Taking the towel that had been offered to him, he put it onto his head and dried it swiftly before letting it hang around his neck. Noticing the quiet squeak of appreciation from the girl, he saw her put on the jacket before drying of her long hair.

"So, Naruto-chan", the owner's daughter, Ayame, started, as she stepped out of the backroom, eyeing the blond with an expecting look. "You two on a date?"

Said blond just grinned wider, this time a little embarrassed. "Not really _that _kind of a date, but a get-to-know-each-other date …"

Hinata, looking down in embarrassment and hoping that the woman wouldn't notice the fierce blush on her face, sat quietly on the chair next to the counter, being joined by the blond shortly after.

"So, what can I get the young lady?" the owner asked, looking at the Hyuuga-girl, already knowing what the blond would order, earning a knowing grin from the young man.

"Um.. Vegetarian, please", the girl replied, looking up at the man, smiling lightly.

As the owner nodded and turned to prepare their food, Naruto and Hinata finally noticed there were others in the shop too. Two young girls that looked their age and one that looked slightly younger, seeming to celebrate something. After hearing a loud; "_HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" _from the red-haired of the two and the younger one, they clearly saw they were celebrating the blonde-haired girl's birthday.

Naruto and Hinata looked at each other with a smile, then over at the girl, who flushed embarrassed but seemed to be excited. "Happy birthday", they said in synch. Earning a 'thank you' from the girl, they nodded and turned their attention on the food, that was given them, still in synch.

Hinata, having noticed their movements being in synch, flushed a light pink and took a pair of chopsticks, ripping them apart, before digging into her food gratefully.

"N-Ne, Naruto-kun…", the girl started, as she looked over to her side where her companion was digging into his food happily but halted to look at her, mumbling a small 'hmm', before swallowing his food. Giggling at the boy's antics, she continued; "how d-did Teuschi-san know a-about me being in the hospital?"

"Oh, uh, I told him the other day when I was eating here", the boy confessed, looking at his food, slightly embarrassed. "I felt a little guilty since some of it was my fa-"

"Naruto-kun, I told you it wasn't your fault in any way", the girl boldly said, looking at the boy with a stubborn yet soft look. Then she smiled and said, "I chose it myself, and like I said, I'd gladly do it again…"

Naruto, looking a little shocked at the girls sudden change of attitude, smiled a little before eating again. "So, Hinata-chan, tell me something about yourself", the boy requested, cursing himself inwardly for being so forward.

Giving the boy a small smile, she continued to hold her gaze at the blond-haired man, before asking; "what would you like to know, Naruto-kun?"

"I got an idea! Lets play '20 questions', that's way easier", the boy grinned, clearly not answering the girls question, but she let it go.

"A-Alright… You go first, then."

"Favourite food?"

"U-Um.. Cinnamon rolls and rice", the girl quietly answered, before nibbling at her food. "N-Naruto-kun's favourite food is obviously ramen, s-so I'll give you another question…"

"Shoot", the boy replied grinning. Looking up at the elder, who was drying some bowls off, he asked for another bowl.

"Uh… N-Naruto-kun's favourite thing to do?", the girl asked, looking at the boy questioning.

"Bugging the living crap out of my landlord!" the boy exclaimed in triumph, looking utterly proud and not affected by the questioning gazes on him.

Giggling, the girl answered, "isn't that a little mean?"

"You kidding me?" The boy replied, looking at the girl. "That man's kids are devils! They won't stop drawing on my door and sneaking into my apartment, destroying things!" Frowning at the memory, Naruto glared into the air. "Tiny little brats…" Earning a giggle at the girl, the blond looked at the smiling girl before asking; "What about you?"

"Oh, uh.. I guess reading. It makes me calm", the girl answered, before finishing her bowl. She looked up at the owner, "Thank you for the meal, it was delicious", she stated with a smile.

"Reading, huh… ", the boy pondered to himself, before swallowing the last bit of his second bowl, signalling for the elder to not give him another one. Looking over to the girl beside him, he smiled warmly at her. "Hinata-chan, mind walking with me?"

"O-Oh, uh, s-sure, n-not at a-all", the girl stuttered a reply, as they stood up.

"It's still raining outside. Do you guys want umbrellas with you?", Ayame asked, looking at the two.

"Just one, Ayame-chan", Naruto quickly said and grabbed onto the offered umbrella, smiling as a 'thank you' to the girl. They paid for their food and left, saying goodbye to the other guests too.

Stepping outside the shop with the Hyuuga, he opened up the umbrella, letting it hover over his own head and the girls. Hinata blushed fiercely at the blond only asking for one umbrella **[1]**, but happily let it go, thinking of where the blond-haired man would take her.

"How are your missions, Hinata-chan? I know that your team is specialized as a search-team, but I wonder how you cope with them", the boy muttered, as he looked down at the girl, who looked like she was thinking.

"I guess we just do what we do…", the girl smiled before continuing, "listen to Kiba-kun's nagging.. Shino-kun's sulking… And lately, because of Kurenai's pregnancy and recent birth, we had received Anko-senpai as captain for our missions. That was, until the invasion…", Hinata's talking came to a stop, as she looked up at the boy with a smile. "We're a team. We do what we do together."

"Waah, I didn't know Kurenai-sensei had a baby! Is it a boy or a girl?" The blond pondered, as they continued to walk down the streets, watching the shops and lights as they passed by.

"It's a boy. She named him Asuma, after Asuma-sensei..", the girl murmured in a low voice, as she looked a little down, before grinning slightly as she looked up at the blond. "He's quite adorable too."

"I bet," Naruto grinned. "So what about your family? What're they like?"

"Strict", the girl blandly said, "my father softened up on me lately, so he isn't that strict anymore, unlike the rest of the family, minus Neji-nii-san. My littlesister has a… quite lovely and colourful language, I have to tell you"

"She curses?" The boy exclaimed, surprised to hear that a Hyuuga could cuss.

Giggling, Hinata answered him. "More frequently than before. But she's a good girl. And Neji-nii-san is Neji-nii-san. He's caring when he wants to be, but when not it's like he's been slammed into a wall several times and got something stuck up his rear, as Hanabi-chan once said", the girl ended her speech, as she earned a loud, heartily laughter from the blond.

"Wow, I am starting to like that sister of yours. So what about your mom?" Immediately wanting to slap himself at the flicker of sorrow in the young woman's eyes, he tried to talk but the girl beat him to it.

"She died a year after Hanabi-chan was born. She had incurable cancer", the girl answered with a sad smile. "But she's in a better place…", the girl almost inaudibly murmured, as she walked along with the blond, smiling gently.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked..", Naruto stated, as he continued to look down at the girl.

"It's fine, you didn't know", Hinata answered, looking up at the blond with a smile. "So, what about you? Anything interesting, that happens when your team is on missions?"

"Other than Sai being a pervert and Sakura-chan fangirl'ing over his Yaoi-manga and her smacking me around, I guess nothing", the boy snorted as they slowly neared the Hyuuga's compound, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Ah, poor Naruto-kun", the girl smiled at the blonds pout before her smile retreated. "Naruto-kun… You do know that we're all here and ready when Sasuke-san comes to Konoha, right..?"

Now at the front of the main-house in the Hyuuga-compound, they came to a stop, as Naruto looked down at the girl in front of him. Hyuuga Hinata in all her glory, worry and something the boy couldn't recognize in her eyes, and surprisingly, her hair had curled softly from the rain.

Naruto smiled. "Yes, I know that perfectly, but I still don't want you to get involved… I'll take him on my own. Only if I die in that battle, you are to interfere." The blond finished, voice stern yet his face carried a bright smile.

Hinata, smiling at this, nodded. She didn't feel as useless as she did before.

"Hinata-chan…"

"Hm?"

Hinata squeaked softly in surprise, as she saw the blond lean in closer and closer. Her heart-rate picked up fast, as she slowly felt herself moving up to meet the blonde. But a noise from behind, following by a scream of pure fury refrained her.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY DAUGHTER, YOU!" the owner of the voice screeched, as the person stepped out into the moonlight. Gulping, Naruto watched in horror as the person came closer. _'Oh…crap...'_

"Ehehehe, I'll see you later, okay, Hinata-chan?", the boy quickly excused himself, leant down to peck her softly yet quick on the cheek before dashing off in inhumane speed, not wanting to let the furious man catch up on him.

Hinata watched with wide eyes and flushed cheeks, as the two men bolted away. As she felt the light breeze ruffle her hair and blow at her garment, her lips turned into a small smile as her eyes softened. She turned around, heading for the door to her house, where after she had closed it she leant up against the ladder and promptly passed out, still wearing Uzumaki Naruto's jacket.

**-INSERT-RULER-LINE-GRRR-**

Author Note: I SERIOUSLY need to fix that… Oh well.

1 – There's a saying/doing/SOMETHING in Japan where if you share an umbrella, that's a sign of love. But dumb as Naruto is, he doesn't know. XD

Personally, I love this chapter. I think it's the best I've done so far.

Liked it? I hope you did. Please review! And again, thank you for all of your support and patience with me!

AGAIN, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SMENCIL!

Love,

_xxKitsune_


	17. Broken Shield Restored

**Running out of ****Lies**

Summary: When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and his new feelings for Hinata. So which will he chose... the lies or the truth?

**Authors Note****: **OMG, THIS IS ACTUALLY A REAL UPDATE! *GASP-OF-DOOM*

Hahahaha, you all thought I was dead! XD Hello everyone! Thank you all for your patience, I love you! Again, personal shit is both blocking me, yet giving me inspiration for a new fanfic I'll be working on after Running out of Lies, and a birthday-request I received. The fanfic will be in Hetalia – Axis Powers though. If you do have an interest in Hetalia, I'd love of you to check it out when I have it up and running!

So, a lot of you voted for me to do a lot more fluff… and also include Sakura into the story a bit more. Ugh, I never should have made that option… But oh well.

And I see someone pushed the "End this shit!"-bottom on the poll… - for the person who clicked that bottom: Don't you worry, this story is coming to an end anyway, so don't you worry about that anymore. (Man, to say that stung… T_T)

Oooh! 200th reviewer kiriban has been caught by Kitsune-chan LOVES Gaa-chan! Oh my God, we have like the same name! 8D XD And as stated, the 200th reviewer gets a request and/or a feature in the following chapters. She chose to appear in one of the chapters, and that she will!

ABOUT HINATA: She's a little bolder from now on, since I don't want to keep writing her as she was when at the age of 13.

Now, on to the real deal! Happy reading and please review!

Bye-bee!

**Chapter 16 – Broken Shield Restored**

'_Can't believe it's been two months since then…'_, Hinata mused happily to herself.

Yes, it had been indeed two months since the indigo-haired woman and her favourite blond-haired man had been on their dinner-date. Both of them had been rather flustered whenever they were together, giving that they still weren't "official". They had been on a few "dates" though they mostly talked about interests and such, getting to know each other further. A hug and a kiss on the forehead were on its place at occasions.

Yet something still bothered both of them…

Hinata had known since the beginning that Sakura is still the one Naruto fancies the most, and she would have to deal with that until the blond would figure his feelings out. It was a horrible situation being in, but she would have to manage. But whenever she saw Naruto, her worries flew away like the wind by that brilliant smile. And just earlier that noon, she had received a message from the pinkette, asking for her to meet her at the bridge, wanting to talk with her.

So here Hinata was, clad in a pair of blue slacks and a light-purple tank-top, waiting for her loved one's teammate to show up sitting on the railing around the bridge, tapping her fingers onto it humming softly.

_'Just where is she?' _Hinata thought to herself slightly impatient, as she swung her legs lazily. Perking up at the shout of her name, she looked to her side to see a running Sakura, waving her hand. Hinata smiled and nodded towards her, letting herself jump down onto the bridge.

"Hinata! Thank you for seeing me today!" Sakura had reached Hinata in time as she had said this and held a smile on her face. But it didn't see to reach her eyes… Hinata shook her and smiled. She grabbed onto the railing and scooped herself up on it again.

"No problem at all, Sakura-san. You wanted to talk, yes? Shall we?" The pinkette nodded and took her seat next to the girl.

"Yes, I wanted to talk to you about Naruto", the girl confessed as she looked at the indigo-haired girl, who looked at her with a confused gaze. "First, I've heard about you too seeing each other. I both congratulate you", Hinata blushed at that but held a small smile, nodding, "and I also resent you for it."

"I beg you pardon?" Hinata's eyes widened at that. _'But…But Sakura-san always liked Uchiha-san and told me to go after Naruto-kun! I don't get it!' _The grey-eyed girl shook her head and looked at the girl, confusion written on her face and hurt reflected in her eyes. "But Sakura-san, you—"

"I know what I said, Hinata. When we were in the land of Iron, I confessed my love to Naruto. At first I wasn't going to do that, but it just flew out of me. I ran into Sasuke-kun-"

"Sakura-san, N-Naruto-kun has already told me this.." The indigo-haired girl mumbled, though loud enough for the girl to hear. "Just… I-I thought you didn't l-l-love Naruto-kun. Y-You always told me to go a-after him.."

"Until I realized that I do love Naruto," Sakura deadpanned, as she stared at the Hyuuga with a surprisingly hard glance. "When Naruto and I sat at that campfire, I realized that."

Hinata had no idea how to feel about this news. She was always told by Sakura to chase after her Naruto-kun, and when he's finally in her grasp, she tries to steal him.

The Haruno blinked at the sudden hard gaze of the soft girl in front of her. _'I haven't seen that look since the Chunin Exam…'_

"Sakura-san," Hinata began, as she stepped down onto the bridge with her back towards to the pinkette, "I've tried since the academy to get Naruto-kun's attention. I finally have it...", she now turned her head towards the girl, "so don't come over here and spoil it for me. You had your chance for several years nows."

"Hinata, he's not that into you-"

"Sakura-san!" The Pinkette flinched at the harsh, yet quiet tone of Hinata's. "I know… But I'm willing to try anything with Naruto-kun. Even if just being his friend, if he doesn't see me like that."

"You'll end up hurting yourself, if you persuade him", the Haruno murmured as she stared into the grey-eyes of the girl in front of her. "He's still in love with me, and won't fully see you"

'_Atleast he'll talk to me, and be my friend instead of throwing me aside and let me freeze to death in the middle of nowhere_'_, _Hinata thought to herself, as she lowered her gaze to the ground. "I know that, Sakura-san… but that's enough for me. If Naruto-kun is there for me as a friend… I'm happy with that."

"Hinata-"

"Sakura-san, please let me be. If you want some sort of rivalry for Naruto-kun, then you can forget about that. I wouldn't dream of getting a rival over Naruto-kun, when I obviously know who he's interested in…", the Hyuuga turned to stare into the emerald eyes of the Pinkette's, and it wasn't soft, pleading eyes she sent. It was a rock-hard stare, which stated the otherwise of what she had just said. _'It's on, Sakura-san…'_

'You got it', Sakura nodded to the girl, who nodded back and turned to leave. Sakura just sat there and watched her leave. Her eyes widened at the sudden realization. _'Since when did she hold her head up that high, and have such a straight back?'_

**-RUNNING-OUT-OF-LIES-**

Hinata exhaled as she went inside of her room, shutting the door behind her. She stumbled over to her bed and collapsed on it, groaning.

_'I did not just make a rivalry with Sakura-san for Naruto-kun…',_ she begged herself to deny her, yet nothing could re-do what they had silently agreed on.

The Hyuuga blinked and sat up straight on her bed when she heard knocking on the door. "Enter". The door opened and her father stepped into the room, with a, was that amusement?, that told the girl something was definitely going down.

"Hinata, you're meeting up with that boy later today, yes? Do you mind inviting him over for dinner? I'd like to meet him properly", the elder said with a stoic face, though his eyes held a glint that unnerved his daughter.

**-LACK—OF—RULER-LINE—GRR—**

Authors Note: Ooh! XD I had so much fun doing this, it's so good being out of that damn writers-block! Thank you so much for sticking with me and the story for so long now! I hope you enjoyed! Please click the button below and review!


	18. Meet the father, Uzumaki Naruto!

**Running out of ****Lies**

Summary: When Sakura confesses her feelings for Naruto, he doesn't know what to think. He is torn between his forever crush on Sakura and his new feelings for Hinata. So which will he chose... the lies or the truth?

**Authors Note****: **HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, NARU-CHAN! THIS IS ALL FOR YOU!

Hello, everyone! How've you been? Is it alright for me to bitch a little about my life before getting on with the story? XD No? Oh, I don't care anyway since you all probably don't read this anyway!

I got myself a boyfriend! He's so sweet X3 He and I have had very rough times together, but we compromised and now, we're together. Other than that, things have quietened down at home. My mom got herself a boyfriend too, he's such a sweetheart. Funny thing is that my brother is even more buff than he is XD I was out ice-skating this Saturday, and I fell a few times hitting my knees and my head, which resulted in a trip to the E.R. They said I was fine, but since then I've had huge headaches, I've felt nauseas and almost threw up at times and I'm starting to shake. I took a trip to the E.R around 1 am yesterday night, and they said that they're 90% sure that I have a concussion. I was going to take a trip to my own doctor, but I didn't want to.

I'm going to a convention 12th November and I ordered a Lolita-dress! It's so cute! If you want to see it, I can give you the link to the website, until I take a proper picture of myself with it and then you can see it on deviantART.

Also, this story is coming to a wrap, as you can see! I'm planning on ending it the 3rd November, which is the 1 year anniversary of this story. Let's see if I can fit one or two updates in there before then!

Btw, what do you think of my new avatar? XD Lemme know in a review!

Happy reading and please review!

Love,  
Kitsune.

-

Chapter 17 – Meet the father, Uzumaki Naruto!_  
_

_"Hinata, you're meeting up with that boy later today, yes? Do you mind inviting him over for dinner? I'd like to meet him properly", the elder said with a stoic face, though his eyes held a glint that unnerved his daughter._

Hinata stared with a blank stare at her father, wondering if the man was just joking with her. The unnerving glint in the man's eye told her the exact opposite of her thoughts, and she gave off a loud gulp. "S-Sure, Father. I-I'll inform him about that.. Um.. T-Tonight or tomorrow?"

"Tonight, if you may", the man said as he looked at his daughter with a questioning glance.

"Oh, a-alright, Father. Today is Naruto-", Hinata quickly bit her tongue so she wouldn't say the suffix, "… Naruto's birthday, so be nice, Father." She looked at the man with slight pleading eyes, hoping he wouldn't go Super Saiyan on the boy again just like last time.

The man gave a tiny smile and gave his daughter a nod, before turning around to leave the room. "I expect of him to wear proper clothes tonight and not that God forsaken orange thing of this!"

The girl gave off a giggle, "Of course, Father".

And as soon as the door was closed, Hinata jumped right up from her bed to fling the door to her wardrobe open. She took out a blue summer-dress with white flower-prints on the bottom, a white jumper and then threw them onto the bed and quickly changed.

Quickly rolling up the sleeves of her jumper and grabbing a hair comb and a rubber band, Hinata quickly combed her hair into a ponytail and tied it with the band, throwing away the comb as she raced out of the door of her bedroom-door and out of the house.

**RUNNING-OUT-OF-LIES-I-NEED-RULER-LINES-GRR**

"Here you go, Naruto! This is on the house!", the owner of the Ramen-shop happily said as he handed a bowl to the blond-haired young man, who lit up like a little child. Said ladder quickly grabbed onto a pair of chopsticks, ripping them off as he yelled out 'ITADAKIMASU!', digging into his food with a content facial expression.

"Thanks, old man, it's delicious!"

"Well, enjoy! I'll be out in the back, if you need a second bowl!"

Naruto grinned as he slurped on his noodles. He had just finished doing an errand for Tsunade, which resulted in him picking up his own birthday-present. He had received a brand new set of kunais and shurikens with a neat gold-writing on the handle of the kunais and around the hold of the shurikens. The young man had gone back to the Hokage-office and barged in the middle of a talk between some Jounins and Tsunade, and strode over to her chair, giving her a bear-hug. After he was kicked out of the office and received a 'happy birthday' from the Jounins, though with a happy smile on the elders face, Naruto headed forwards Ichiraku Ramen for his daily doses of ramen.

The young blond gasped as his vision suddenly darkened by pale, slender feminine hands covering his eyes. The boy recognized the chakra and smiled, reaching up to remove the hands from his eyes and was greeted with the gentle smile and milky eyes of Hyuuga Hinata.

"Happy birthday, Naruto-kun", the girl said in a soft whisper as she leant down to kiss the boy's forehead with a heavy blush on her face, taking a seat next to the now blushing, yet grinning, young man.

"Heheh, thanks", the boy grinned as he scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed grin, "so where are you taking me? You never told me what we were going to do today"

"You finished with your food?"

"Yes, why?"

"Good, 'cause we're going speed-shopping", the girl firmly said as she stood from her place and looked at the blond with a desperate look.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at Hinata, giving her a questioning look.

"My father wants you over for dinner tonight and he does not want to see anything related to orange, so lets go and get you something else" As Hinata said this, Naruto's facial-expressions changed from shocked, to confused, to horrified.

"Oh, boy, he'll slaughter me! I don't own anything else than orange trousers and black shirts! I haven't even gottten my paycheck yet, how can I buy new clothes?"

"Don't you worry, Naruto-kun, it's on me", Hinata's cheeks flushed a bright red as she gave him a small smile and grabbed hold of his hand, tugging on it making him stand up. "This will be your present from me, then"

"I can't let you do that, Hinata-chan," the boy quickly said as he looked down at her, "I didn't want anything from you and I told you that clearly"

"Well, you don't have much of a choice, Naruto-kun", the girl shrugged and looked at the boy with a slight smirk, "so lets go already. And to make up for today, I'll make sure that we have our planned picnic tomorrow."

"Home-made ramen?"

"Only for you, Naruto-kun"

And just like that, Hinata was quickly dragged by the hand through the streets with a very happy blond in front of her. She gave a small smile and quickened the pace, so they were walking side-by-side, still hand in hand. Naruto gave Hinata's hand a tiny squeeze, and Hinata blushed worse than earlier but her smile widened and she intertwined her fingers with the blond's.

"S-So where do you want to go and look for a new outfit? Anything that's not orange will do", Hinata looked at the boy, who looked back at her with a confused gaze.

"I don't do much shopping, so you just pick the place", Naruto assured her with a smile, as they walked through the business-streets where a lot of shops were placed right next to each other.

Hinata's response was to grab hold of Naruto's arm and drag him into the nearest clothes-shop, ignoring his surprised yelp.

**RUNNING-OUT-OF-LIES-DAMN-IT-HOW-DO-I-GET-RULER-LINES?**

Naruto glanced nervously after the branch-members, who cleaned the table of dishes, and then at the head of the Hyuuga-clan, who observed the boy with obvious amusement to his fidgeting and nervous gulps of air, he took.

Hinata sighed deeply as she shook her head, ignoring the two's staring-showdown as she leant back in her seat, giving her younger sister, Hanabi at the age of 14, who stared right back at her with a grin.

"Naruto, you can relax. I'm not going to cut you open", Hiashi quietly stated as he reached for his mug of tea, bringing it to his lips and took a grateful sip.

Naruto visibly relaxed at that and gave a nervous grin. "I thought for a second that you would hunt me down like our last encounter, sir"

"Certainly not" Before Naruto could answer, he quickly added: "but if you do hurt my daughter, I willcut you", the elder shot the young man a stern look as he pointed at the wall behind him, where his katana Naruto had greeted before, was hanging proudly on the wall, almost glaring at the blond.

Naruto gulped and nodded furiously, "o-of course, sir, I wouldn't dream of hurting Hinata-chan!"

"Father, may I leave the table?" the younger Hyuuga politely asked, as she backed away from the table. After getting an affirmative, Hanabi sent her older sister a look of sympathy with a teasing smile, as if to say 'have fun'.

"Good", the man smiled pleasantly at the blond, which didn't unnerve the boy at all, and he sipped on his tea. "Exactly how serious are you two?"

Both Hinata and Naruto spluttered at that, blushing heavily at the question.

"H-How is that to be understood, father?" the young woman asked, cheeks burning in a bright, cherry-red colour. As for Naruto, he was too dumbfounded by the fact that he gave him that question when they had no idea themselves.

"Well is this something temporary or is it something you want to hold onto?", the man lazily gestured with his hand at the two, as he raised an eyebrow in amusement at the flushed expressions of the two.

"I… I think we're fine just being like this," Naruto said as the first one of the two to recover. His composure was much more certain than before. Hinata stared at Naruto shocked as he said this and blushed deeply, "your daughter is a very fantastic person. And I'll have you know that I haven't planted my lips on her before I got your permission to court her, sir"

Hiashi was visibly surprised at the sudden formality and seriousness of the blond, but he was very pleased with the boy. He looked to his daughter, who was equally surprised but she held a small smile, seeming very satisfied with the boy. _'I guess as long as she's happy, then I'll let them be together…' _

"I must honestly admit that I am starting to like you, Naruto, so by all means you may be together with my daughter"

"Thank you, sir", the young man grinned widely and grabbed hold of the younger Hyuuga's hand, receiving a squeeze.

"But do remember that I _will _cut you if you do anything to my daughter, young man", Hiashi firmly stated, as he stood from his seat and folded his arms. "Now shoo off, you two. I have some business I need to take care off", the man batted them away with his hand and gave a small smile at his daughter whom mouthed a 'thank you' to him, as they rose from their seat and left the room, hand-in-hand.

"So, do I get to see your room or do you have any dangerous girly stuff in there, that you don't want me seeing?" Naruto teasingly asked, as he was lead away by the Indigo-haired young woman in front of him, who had hold of his hand.

"You may enter my bedroom, Naruto-kun", she smiled at the blond as she reached for the door-handle of said room and opened the door, letting the blond in after her. She let go of his hand and closed the door.

Finally realising a chuckle from the blond, she looked his way and noticed that the clothes she had worn earlier that day was thrown all over her queen-sized bed. Blusing a deep red, she quickly grabbed onto the clothes and threw it in the washing-bin, which she had in a corner next to her wardrobe.

Naruto laughed at her embarrassment and the bright blush on her cheeks,_ 'which I adore', _he thought to himself, as he sat down on the bed with his legs crossed underneath him. Noticing the longhaired girl making her way towards the bed and climbing hesitantly on it, she sat with her legs folded underneath her and her eyes connected with his sky-blue eyes.

"So… You wouldn't plant your lips on mine before getting my fathers permission, no?" She grinned at the red colour spreading across the blonds face, as he nodded. The Hyuuga blushed bright-red and reached up and tapped her lips twice, giving the boy a knowing look.

And Uzumaki Naruto responded by planting his lips onto Hyuuga Hinata's soft ones.

**-**

Authors Note: I am sorry if some of this sounded odd, but I have been confirmed a concussion and I can't spell or speak properly at times, so I apologize if any of this sounded odd.

I hope you enjoyed! I can't fill anything else in this story, so next week the 3rd November, this story ends!

I thank you all for your support the past year and I hope to see you all again in future stories!

Please leave a review!

BTW: The ending is exactly how I got together with my boyfriend XD felt so great to write.


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